Dungeons and Dragons (2022)

[Peelee]

Only where it belongs, not artificial diversity.

"Artificial diversity"?

[Keltest]

That's absolutely a viable way to build a setting, and in my opinion more interesting than another knock-off Shire full of humans and nothing else.

Living in medieval-esque times is a lot of work, and traveling is more on top of that. Cultural groups didn't intermix nearly as much at the time because people just didn't have the free time needed to see the world. A farmer just didn't have the weeksrth of free time it would take to move to the other side of the continent, or even country and get established there, and they certainly couldn't do it for entertainment. Tradesmen and merchants had it better, but merchants were chained to their source of goods, and tradesmen needed their facilities and tools, so once they set down roots, they were there for a while.

[dancrilis]

"Artificial diversity"?

I imagine it could be when you diversify your portfolio to ensure you don't have a single point of failure - however without your knowledge the companies you diversify into are actually dependent on the focus of your initial portfolio, so in truth you really only have artificially diversity of portfolio.

You can apply the same logic to virtually anything else.
i.e you have a orc in elf town - but nobody comments on them being a orc and they do not act any different then any of the elves, it is artifical diversity, it looks like something new but in actuallity it is not.

'Real' diversity would be when you actually have something new and different from what you had - i.e your new investments are either not linked to your old ones or they are but they negatively linked (i.e if your existing takes a hit your new will have a raise) - or where your orc is not merely an elf in a different body and people react to that - as such you should not see an orc in elftown unless they are relevant to the overall story/scene.

[Lvl45DM!]

Living in medieval-esque times is a lot of work, and traveling is more on top of that. Cultural groups didn't intermix nearly as much at the time because people just didn't have the free time needed to see the world. A farmer just didn't have the weeksrth of free time it would take to move to the other side of the continent, or even country and get established there, and they certainly couldn't do it for entertainment. Tradesmen and merchants had it better, but merchants were chained to their source of goods, and tradesmen needed their facilities and tools, so once they set down roots, they were there for a while.

Ok but the mad wizard Zagyg did a spell 1500 years ago that took every person and teleported them around the world in alphabetical order, A's at north and Z's at the south. The ensuing mix created much war and devastation and confusion, but its settled down now. Just sort of a thing that everyone accepts as not only normal, but superior, and judges isolationist xenophobic communities.

Or have Roy be black but from the north and noone gives a stuff.

[Kantaki]

Only where it belongs, not artificial diversity. The proper way to have diversity in a D&D movies is to have the protagonists travel and see diversity in their travels, that is they travel to many different places and see many diverse people in their travels.

An example of what not to do, a human farmer takes his cow to market to sell, and on his way he passes a hobgoblin, and a troll going the opposite way.
The farmer sees a centaur hitched to a plow making furrows in his field for spring planting. The farmer steps into a tavern to ask directions to the market and it is a fantasy version of the Star Wars Cantina with one or two humans sitting on the side, there is a beholder around serving drinks by wrapping his eyes talks around glasses and bottles, two pixies are wrestling one another on a table while an orc and an elf place bets. There is a minotaur serving as a bouncer tossing a halfling who has had too much to drink out the window, in the kitchen the is a red dragon acting as a stove, while a water elemental is washing the dishes and an air elemental is drying them and stacking them on shelves.

I dunno, that kinda sounds really cool.
Well, maybe not the farmer bit, but it would be a great way of showing the world is weird.
Larger, different than just another pseudo-medieval setting with fancy outfits and some funny ear-bits.

Living in medieval-esque times is a lot of work, and traveling is more on top of that. Cultural groups didn't intermix nearly as much at the time because people just didn't have the free time needed to see the world. A farmer just didn't have the weeksrth of free time it would take to move to the other side of the continent, or even country and get established there, and they certainly couldn't do it for entertainment. Tradesmen and merchants had it better, but merchants were chained to their source of goods, and tradesmen needed their facilities and tools, so once they set down roots, they were there for a while.

Maybe, but I would still expect a city in a typical fantasy world to be more colourful than in ours.
Even if it isn't a mayor trade center there's still all kinds of people coming through offering their wares.
I mean, even if it's just from a village a day in the other direction the guy coming from there might be a goblin or elf.

[Lvl45DM!]

I imagine it could be when you diversify your portfolio to ensure you don't have a single point of failure - however without your knowledge the companies you diversify into are actually dependent on the focus of your initial portfolio, so in truth you really only have artificially diversity of portfolio.

You can apply the same logic to virtually anything else.
i.e you have a orc in elf town - but nobody comments on them being a orc and they do not act any different then any of the elves, it is artifical diversity, it looks like something new but in actuallity it is not.

'Real' diversity would be when you actually have something new and different from what you had - i.e your new investments are either not linked to your old ones or they are but they negatively linked (i.e if your existing takes a hit your new will have a raise) - or where your orc is not merely an elf in a different body and people react to that - as such you should not see an orc in elftown unless they are relevant to the overall story/scene.

One million dollars says you watched the Cantina scene in Star Wars and didnt wonder what {scrubbed} was doing in the same bar with the buttchinned jazz players when, as far as we know and have been shown, Tattoine is a human planet, with the occasional Jawa.

Story irrelevant orcs in elftown change the setting, but unless theres inconsistency it doesnt harm the setting.

[dancrilis]

One million dollars says you watched the Cantina scene in Star Wars and didnt wonder what Satan was doing in the same bar with the buttchinned jazz players when, as far as we know and have been shown, Tattoine is a human planet, with the occasional Jawa.

Story irrelevant orcs in elftown change the setting, but unless theres inconsistency it doesnt harm the setting.

I am not sure if you are agreeing with me or not.

I am also not sure why you would think Tattoine is a human planet.

[Peelee]

I imagine it could be when you diversify your portfolio to ensure you don't have a single point of failure - however without your knowledge the companies you diversify into are actually dependent on the focus of your initial portfolio, so in truth you really only have artificially diversity of portfolio.

You can apply the same logic to virtually anything else.
i.e you have a orc in elf town - but nobody comments on them being a orc and they do not act any different then any of the elves, it is artifical diversity, it looks like something new but in actuallity it is not.

'Real' diversity would be when you actually have something new and different from what you had - i.e your new investments are either not linked to your old ones or they are but they negatively linked (i.e if your existing takes a hit your new will have a raise) - or where your orc is not merely an elf in a different body and people react to that - as such you should not see an orc in elftown unless they are relevant to the overall story/scene.

When working in a fictional world, however, it is trivially possible to declare that the racial makeup has diversity baked into it, in whatever proportions you liked.

[Rakaydos]

I am also not sure why you would think Tattoine is a human planet.

Outside that bar, outside the special edition, what aliens do we see on tattoine? Jawas, and that one Kubaaz spy.(The special edition adds Jabba and his entourage, I suppose.)

That seems to be a pretty jawa/human based planet.

[Rogar Demonblud]

And the sand people. Never forget the sand people.

[Peelee]

Aye. Jawas and Sand People are native to Tatooine, not humans. Also, the cantina is likely representative of the makeup of the planet, at least in spaceport cities.

[Keltest]

Tatooine and the cantina are maybe bad examples, given the generally underworld nature of the planet and its relative isolation from mainstream society. Most of them are almost certainly not average blue collar workers looking for a drink at the end of an honest day's work.

[Peelee]

Jabba's palace and sail barge scenes also takes place on Tatooine, where humans are remarkably under-represented compared to most other populated planets we see.

[Kantaki]

And the sand people. Never forget the sand people.

Sand people aren't human?
Are you sure?
Wrapped up as those mummies are, who can tell?

I know, I know, EU says they're aliens, but just from the movies I wouldn't know. Found out while browsing the wiki. [I mean, even Darth Krayt couldn't tell and he grew up among them, so...*

*Okay, it was more didn't know both parents were human, but still, those guys take their bandages very seriously.

[Hopeless]

Wasn't there an Australian series involving a mage travelling to modern day Australia to escape the havoc of his world?
Only someone from his past paying him a visit rewriting reality quite literally!

[Psyren]

Yeah. Another example of how tying this to real world Earth has issues.

I mean, the movie can do that, it would just make it difficult to discuss here.

Uh, OK ... this thread went in interesting directions.

Here’s a possible Jumanji-esque set-up: a group of D&D players are invited to a one-off game with a DM known for being a little intense. He turns out to be a warlock who sends them into the game, where they embody their characters.

I once saw a short film with that set-up. (Except the DM was punishing the players for being bullies.)

I’ll grant you that it’s a fairly routine and even cliche plot, but I think it’s probably more apt to succeed than another generic fantasy plot.

That would be difficult to do tone-wise. If the danger is real then this borders on horror (kind of like Jumanji and SAO did) - great for a cursed artifact or malevolent overseer, less so for a game you actually want people to go out and play when the movie is over. Although one way you could handle this is that one of the group becomes the GM after they overthrow the evil one - you could even have that party member die before that happens, both adding stakes and explaining why they would stop being a player.

If the danger isn't real then this becomes more farcical - think South Park Stick of Truth, say. That could be entertaining but would feel more like a parody.

[Tvtyrant]

Make it an actual horror movie isekai dungeon crawl. If it is going to fail in the box office it might as well be a cult classic.

[Rodin]

Make it an actual horror movie isekai dungeon crawl. If it is going to fail in the box office it might as well be a cult classic.

So, a bunch of players discover a Jumanji-esque set of dice that pull them into a D&D game...and that game is Tomb of Horrors?

Start out all happy, and then go full horror with a diminishing party. Characters rapidly die off as they act like typical D&D players would in a dungeon. They have the abilities of their character, but unlike Jumanji they don't instinctively know what to do. The Fighter knows cool sword moves, but has no idea when it's appropriate to do that move and promptly dies to a kobold shanking him.

And of course, full horror movie gore.

I could get behind this. Might need to be a straight-to-streaming movie instead of a theatrical release, but I bet you could make a fun B-movie out of that premise.

[Tvtyrant]

So, a bunch of players discover a Jumanji-esque set of dice that pull them into a D&D game...and that game is Tomb of Horrors?

Start out all happy, and then go full horror with a diminishing party. Characters rapidly die off as they act like typical D&D players would in a dungeon. They have the abilities of their character, but unlike Jumanji they don't instinctively know what to do. The Fighter knows cool sword moves, but has no idea when it's appropriate to do that move and promptly dies to a kobold shanking him.

And of course, full horror movie gore.

I could get behind this. Might need to be a straight-to-streaming movie instead of a theatrical release, but I bet you could make a fun B-movie out of that premise.

Make the dungeon be one made by a friend who was DMing and he has to watch it kill his friends? This movie actually sounds like a lot of fun.

[Rogar Demonblud]

And horror does a lot better at the box office than fantasy, especially in net profit.

[EggKookoo]

I mean, the movie can do that, it would just make it difficult to discuss here.

I will admit I'm still in a state of mild confusion.

[InvisibleBison]

Living in medieval-esque times is a lot of work, and traveling is more on top of that. Cultural groups didn't intermix nearly as much at the time because people just didn't have the free time needed to see the world. A farmer just didn't have the weeksrth of free time it would take to move to the other side of the continent, or even country and get established there, and they certainly couldn't do it for entertainment. Tradesmen and merchants had it better, but merchants were chained to their source of goods, and tradesmen needed their facilities and tools, so once they set down roots, they were there for a while.

Yes, in a medievalesque society, people don't do a lot of traveling. And since when the gods created the world they scattered all their children all over the world, that means that you aren't going to have all the humans traveling to one corner of the world to make a humans-only society.

A racially-diverse setting is not in any way "unrealistic".

[Rodin]

Make the dungeon be one made by a friend who was DMing and he has to watch it kill his friends? This movie actually sounds like a lot of fun.

The way the final girl (because who else?) gets out is that the friend in the real world works out he can pass notes by writing them into the module book.

"Orb of Annihilation, don't touch!"

[Tvtyrant]

The way the final girl (because who else?) gets out is that the friend in the real world works out he can pass notes by writing them into the module book.

"Orb of Annihilation, don't touch!"

Is she the group's cleric/paladin, or is she naturally a cleric but playing something edgy as exploration?

[Rogar Demonblud]

I will admit I'm still in a state of mild confusion.

A brief rehash of the {scrubbed} thing from the 80s. Confusion is normal.

[Giggling Ghast]

That would be difficult to do tone-wise. If the danger is real then this borders on horror (kind of like Jumanji and SAO did) - great for a cursed artifact or malevolent overseer, less so for a game you actually want people to go out and play when the movie is over.

But again, the plot would be about showing why people play Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah, the characters are put “in danger,” but it’s also about hanging out with friends and role playing.

And even after they escape the game, the group goes back to playing D&D the normal way.

[dancrilis]

I will admit I'm still in a state of mild confusion.

I am not sure what has you confused but I think I have an idea - perhaps I am wildly off however.

Within the Forgotten Realms (5e) Asmodeus is the leader of the devils and has cults - and has numerous stories about his origin.
Some of those origins have him as an angel that out smarted the gods while conducting his duties.

Now if a wizard creates a religion called Asmodeusim and this is not focused on the worship of Asmodeus but instead on the idea that an individual should follow ones own path rather then that of other beings - well it would be easy to confuse that religion with devil worshiping cults, and discussing how they are not the same would certainly be inclined to draw the attention of the agents tasked with stomping out cults worshipping devils.
Such an agent may see that the discussion does not warrent executions but may still warrent being closed down regardless due to proximity to banned topics.

[EggKookoo]

Within the Forgotten Realms (5e) Asmodeus is the leader of the devils and has cults - and has numerous stories about his origin.
Some of those origins have him as an angel that out smarted the gods while conducting his duties.

Now if a wizard creates a religion called Asmodeusim and this is not focused on the worship of Asmodeus but instead on the idea that an individual should follow ones own path rather then that of other beings - well it would be easy to confuse that religion with devil worshiping cults, and discussing how they are not the same would certainly be inclined to draw the attention of the agents tasked with stomping out cults worshipping devils.
Such an agent may see that the discussion does not warrent executions but may still warrent being closed down regardless due to proximity to banned topics.

That helps, thanks.

[Tom Kalbfus]

Yes, in a medievalesque society, people don't do a lot of traveling. And since when the gods created the world they scattered all their children all over the world, that means that you aren't going to have all the humans traveling to one corner of the world to make a humans-only society.

A racially-diverse setting is not in any way "unrealistic".

Okay you try to cross the street and you just barely missed being stepped on by a cloud giant that wasn't looking where he was going, perhaps he was drunk, well he tripped over a horse through and fell on top of the stable crushing several horses to death after drinking several gallons of ale as he fell unconscious. Meanwhile you see a red beholder floating down the street being chased by a blue, a yellow and a green ghost. The beholder chomps down on a fruit stand, and suddenly the three ghosts turn tail and run away as the beholder chases after them chomping and trying to eat the ghosts! Just you typical scene in your small fantasy town, right?

The farmer leads ole Bessy down the street, and passes three houses in a row, one make of straw, the next one made out of sticks, and the third one made of bricks. He sees an orc peering through one of the windows as a mangy wolf walks down the street huffing and puffing, the farmer turns the corner and didn't see what happened, but there was a sudden gusts of wind that smelled like bad breath, and straw suddenly fell out of the sky, "my what strange weather they have around here," the farmer commented.

[Dargaron]

Maybe a Dungeons and Dragons movie would play to its strength better if it focused in on the monsters, while leaving the player races "generic fantasy" enough to allow genre tropes to do most of the heavy lifting. Basically, pull an "Alien" or a "Godzilla" by making the main attraction be the cool, weird creature that's suddenly terrorizing generic fantasyville. Plus, if the setting is "adventurers go into bog-standard dungeon, creature that should not be hunts them," that means you have a relatively contained locale (saving money on sets/extras) and a clear goal (GET OUT!) that doesn't require much explanation.

Aberrations are probably the most uniquely "Dungeons and Dragons"-branded monsters, so leaning on that element would be best. For instance, you can have a generic fantasy movie with a sword-dude or a wizard, but only Dungeons and Dragons is allowed to deploy these babies.

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