Live Action D&D Television Series in the Works.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Which sucks. Why can't we just go see what kind of trouble we can get into over on that side of the next hill?

[CharonsHelper]

I'm not sure that would fly. Modern TV series are all about the big arc, you can't do much monster of the week anymore. See The Witcher, where they combined the main plot from the later books, while also simultaneously doing the disconnected short stories that came out first, which lead to the weird nonlinear time of the episodes. Because you need to have an epic story in fantasy.

Yeah, I know that that's what The Witcher did - but it was the weakest part of the series. And I'm certainly not alone in not being into the confusing storyline. I was less confused than most as a reader of the books, but I think that they'd have been better off telling it in a much more straightforward manner.

The largely unrelated adventuring from Geralt's perspective was the best part of the series anyway IMO. Hinting at the overarching plot is cool - beating the audience over the head with it often isn't.

[dancrilis]

Curious - what did Xzar do? I never kept him in the group long even when I played evil because Imoen already covered the thief slot and he's tied to Montaron, and I wanted to keep her in the party. (partly because I played BGII before BGI and I knew how she was linked to the MC). Plus - even on my evil run my MC was LE, and Xzar is full-on CE.

Honestly I don't really remember why I think he is awesome it is more a generic feeling remembered after decades, although I do seem to remember liking his random comments.

Outside of story and focusing on mechanics however I do have clear memories that he was not merely the most useful of my party but there were some fights were I would have the party simply stay in a different room and have Xzar deal with everything on his own because if they joined the fight they would die - and he was basically able to deal with it on his own anyway (maybe have them run in to assist at the very end).

That is likely a function of me not making best use of other people.

But I could imagine any story benefiting from an insane evil wizard who every now and then remains the audience (and the other characters) why they hang out with him.

[Darth Credence]

Modern series are about the big arc now - but monster of the week was once the way to do things and big arcs were just not done. Even then, that only applies to certain genres. Sit coms still are predominantly status quo shows, as are a large number of dramas and procedurals.
It can easily change back, if someone makes a good fantasy or sci-fi show that focuses on monster of the week. The show runner who goes with that style and succeeds will be hailed as a visionary, and it will lead to a bunch of copy cats. Why not D&D?

[Ajustusdaniel]

I think I would honestly prefer a D&D television series to be focused as much on the players as the characters. The Gamers: Dorkness Rising as mentioned elsewhere is a pretty good example of this sort of story- I would also point to Darths & Droids.

[CharonsHelper]

I think I would honestly prefer a D&D television series to be focused as much on the players as the characters. The Gamers: Dorkness Rising as mentioned elsewhere is a pretty good example of this sort of story- I would also point to Darths & Droids.

I don't think that a showing the players could ever be the sort of mainstream show that they're undoubtedly going for.

And as much as I enjoy The Gamers (especially the first one), it would NOT be a good long-running show, nor will it ever have mass appeal.

Both The Gamers movies largely rely upon in-jokes for people who are already gamers, and even for gamers, it's not like they could keep recycling those jokes for multiple seasons. They'd get stale fast.

The most I except are a few easter egg jokes scattered throughout the show - the sort of things which are too fast for non-gamers to catch.

The Transformers movies weren't about 8-10 year-olds folding plastic toys, and I seriously doubt that the D&D show will be about a bunch of nerds sitting around a table rolling dice and drinking Mountain Dew.

[Ajustusdaniel]

I don't think that a showing the players could ever be the sort of mainstream show that they're undoubtedly going for.

Well, I didn't say it would be a smart business decision- just that it would appeal to me!

But more seriously, it's about the only way that I can see a live actions how meaningfully being a D&D series. I mean, you can have a Faerun series or a Dragonlance series (probably not, given there's some legal drama there) but I don't feel that's quite the same thing. D&D is a system, not a setting, and for a show to be a D&D show, I would like it to concern itself with that system. I binge watched a series about a woman playing chess, and I grok a lot less of the terminology and strategy that goes into a world-class chess game then I do even 5e.

Put a bunch of attractive, charismatic people around a table, write some evolving personal relationships between them, let that color the way they interact in-play, and give a decent chunk of the show following the story in-game to get your special effects on, and I sincerely believe that you have the recipe for a good and compelling show.

Albeit, not one that's likely to enjoy the success of say, Game of Thrones, and return the investors that sweet dragon money.

[CharonsHelper]

D&D is a system, not a setting, and for a show to be a D&D show, I would like it to concern itself with that system.

And Transformers are plastic toys - yet the movie was about if Transformers were real.

Clue is a board game - yet it was a movie set in the board game's world.

And a D&D show will be set in the world of the D&D game - not actually about people playing D&D the game.

[Mechalich]

I binge watched a series about a woman playing chess, and I grok a lot less of the terminology and strategy that goes into a world-class chess game then I do even 5e.

Chess, at the professional, or even serious amateur, level, is a sport. Shows about chess, and there are more than a few, follow the tropes of sports shows and to a lesser degree shows about the fame and celebrity in the same fashion as shows about musicians. Stories like that are about about the participants, not about the game. The sport is simply a vehicle for drama and tension, the actual events that take place in the game-within-the-show aren't really that important. This is why the majority of sports movies aren't just about some great team and its march to greatness, but about a team or player that can be said to have overcome some societal obstacle outside the game instead.

D&D, however, is not a competitive game or sport, it's not even a performance intended to entertain in the fashion of music or comedy. The only metric by which a TTRPG can be judged as successful or not is by whether the participants had fun. As a vehicle for storytelling it's functionally equivalent to a bunch of people going to a party or bowling, while being much more impenetrable to outsiders.

Now, it is possible to do live action D&D as a sort of perpetual improv comedy sketch in which die rolls function as a randomizer. There's actually a long running theater series in Winnipeg that's been doing this for over a decade with great success (they roll a basketball-sized d29 across the stage and everything, it's pretty great). However, it's the sort of thing that works far, far better as live theater - where the actors can improv meta-commentary in time with dice rolls, audience reaction, and the 'DM" sitting on the side of the stage - than it could as television.

Could you do a super-campy spoofy D&D style series in which the live action fantasy world is just as ridiculous as the results thrown out by your average 'beer & pretzels' style campaign. Yes, you could. In fact, it's been done, as in the case of such spoofs as Your Highness, but that movie, and most movies like it, are really, really bad (the exception is The Princess Bride, but there's only one The Princess Bride).

[Lvl45DM!]

I did have an idea for a DnD series that tries to encapsulate the feel of DnD rather than just following another adventuring party.
The basic idea is that a 1st Edition style party of legendary heroes goes missing and a ragtag group of 5e style adventurers decides to find them. The fun part is the 5e party is made up of partially monstrous races that have had a history with the legendary heroes. So theres a Dragonborn and the heroes beat Tiamat, a demon tiefling and the heroes beat Demogorgon etc.

[Ajustusdaniel]

And Transformers are plastic toys - yet the movie was about if Transformers were real.

See, Transformers are plastic toys, and the movie was about if the figures those toys represent, and the world they implicitly inhabit were real. I'm contending that there's not an equivalent set of figures or world that is presented by D&D.

Clue is a board game - yet it was a movie set in the board game's world.

Clue is a board game, and the movie was about if the figures that that board game represents, and the world they inhabit was real. I'm contending that there's not an equivalent set of figures or world that is presented by D&D.

And a D&D show will be set in the world of the D&D game - not actually about people playing D&D the game.

You're probably right (except in so far as I'm contending there's not actually a world presented by the D&D game for the show to be set in, but substitute "World with elements drawn from D&D sourcebooks") that that will be the case. I'm just saying that that's not what I would find most satisfying.

[Anonymouswizard]

Although, as a single comedic series (so like six episodes) I wouldn't mind seeing a more YuGiOh-style D&D series. A bunch of groups are invited to a special tournament they they have to get their parties through a series of dungeons before the other parties in a knockout-style structure, playing fast and loose with the rules and focusing more on the Power of Friendship which makes a group that trusts each other roll better. Maybe even skip over most of the tournament in a montage.

[Dargaron]

See, Transformers are plastic toys, and the movie was about if the figures those toys represent, and the world they implicitly inhabit were real. I'm contending that there's not an equivalent set of figures or world that is presented by D&D.

Actually, there is. One of Dragon Magazine's framing devices would occasionally be Elminster and Mordenkainen hanging out in Ed Greenwood's parlor despite the fact that one is from Greyhawk and the other is from Forgotten Realms. Their spells are also cross-setting: the Player's Handbook has Tenser's Floating Disc, regardless of whether you're playing in Forgotten Realms or Dark Sun. These names even show up in non-game material, such as, again, Drizzt novels where folks like Bigsby and Melf are mentioned in-character and by name.

It sounds a bit like you're saying "there can't be a Marvel movie, because there are so many Marvel universes that you'd have to choose to set it in one of them."

[Ajustusdaniel]

It sounds a bit like you're saying "there can't be a Marvel movie, because there are so many Marvel universes that you'd have to choose to set it in one of them."

Sure, yeah, good example! If you said "They're making a Marvel Comics Movie," I'd say, "What comics?" And if you said, "No, it's a Marvel Comics Movie, that's what it is," I would say "Well that sounds like nonsense. You can make an Avengers movie, or a Hulk movie, or I guess a Howard the Duck movie, but what would a Marvel Comics Movie even be?"

[Dargaron]

But the thing is: all of those are Marvel Comics movies. It's a distinction without a difference, because Dungeons and Dragons series is a category above the particular setting. The only difference between a D&D series that includes cutaways to the gamers playing it and one that does not is whether the series is set in Faerun/Eberron/Dark Sun/My Super Edgy Homebrew Setting, or whether it's set on Earth with frequent daydream sequences.

[Anonymouswizard]

but what would a Marvel Comics Movie even be?"

A docudrama about the early years of the company? Alternatively the way people talk about a 'BBC series'.


Really, the question is how hard they're going to leave into the Realms and how much they're going the D&D movie for of using a vaguely defined setting so they don't have to stick to strict s, and I'd honestly prefer the latter.

As long as series 1 includes a) a Dungeon and b) a dragon they've done enough for most people. Bonus points if they put one in the other. Anything more linking it to D&D is just nerd bonus.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Hasbro has gone all in on everything being set in the Realms, so set your expectations accordingly.

[Xyril]

Wouldn't that be a good thing for a D&D series?

It absolutely would be. That was the attitude that made The Gamers so much fun, though obviously they took the meta part to a whole other level that I don't think most folks in this thread are contemplating.

More generally though, I'm kind of hoping for a D&D (or a fantasy series in general) that does play the genre a bit more straight and actually turns out good, if only because that sort of thing has been so rare. I know it can be done--examples of great fantasy (both high and low, for those who care about the distinction) movies exist. It's frustrating that it seems like there's still the old genre-fiction attitude where producers think, "We can just throw up Legend of the Seeker, and fans will watch it because the only competing fantasy series out now are much worse."

Sure, yeah, good example! If you said "They're making a Marvel Comics Movie," I'd say, "What comics?" And if you said, "No, it's a Marvel Comics Movie, that's what it is," I would say "Well that sounds like nonsense. You can make an Avengers movie, or a Hulk movie, or I guess a Howard the Duck movie, but what would a Marvel Comics Movie even be?"

A movie that integrates everything, or a substantial chunk of everything, that Marvel publishes? The MCU movies currently have a shared universe, just like the comics do... however, many older movies, tv shows, or other non-comic adaptations varied wildly. For example, Blade in the comics coexists with Spider-man and the Avengers. In contrast, the Wesley Snipes movies never explicitly acknowledged anything else from Marvel. Moreover, the setting was very much the classic supernatural/horror movie, in the sense that every character interaction subtly reinforces the idea that except for a few specific supernatural creatures or elements, the world is aggressively normal. People who find out that vampires exist pretty much react the same way one of us would, having lived all our lives believing that vampires were just make-believe. While the movies never explicitly talk about the Avengers not existing (which would be oddly specific), the way everyone reacts to the threat of the vampires pretty strongly implies nobody's even thought of the possibility of calling 911 and getting Thor or the Hulk to fix the problem.

Within the main Marvel continuity, there are already multiple alternate realities that interact in comic events. For example, any What If? issue or the entire Ultimate universe were separate in the sense that they had their own reality that were often irreconcilable different than the 616 continuity, but various crossover events acknowledged that these universes occupied the same multiverse. So in one sense, a "Marvel comics" movie might be those in a shared setting that explicitly acknowledges the other franchises (or at the very least, doesn't implicitly or explicitly rule them out.)

In contrast, Marvel has been publishing Star Wars comics since 1977, but they don't seem to be part of the main multiverse. They're effectively a separate imprint, whose primary relationship to the rest of Marvel is economic, and not narrative. I would argue that a "Marvel comics" movie could exclude that setting--however, it wouldn't be completely irrational to argue for their inclusion. Originally, I don't think all the Marvel comics that are tied together today were written with a shared universe in mind. Cap and Iron-Man probably were, since both debuted in Tales of Suspense separately, and obviously by the time Avengers came out, they were consciously bringing popular characters together. However, looking retrospectively it seems like the process was much more organic at first, with many characters written into their own separate continuities, and gradually being brought together for limited teamups or crossovers.

[Rynjin]

It's frustrating that it seems like there's still the old genre-fiction attitude where producers think, "We can just throw up Legend of the Seeker, and fans will watch it because the only competing fantasy series out now are much worse."

I actually liked that series. =(

[Anonymouswizard]

Hasbro has gone all in on everything being set in the Realms, so set your expectations accordingly.

And as long as it doesn't dive too deep into setting lore, includes 1) a dungeon and 2) a dragon then I'm not sure it can fall below my expectations.

Like, I was one of those people who didn't finish the first episode of The Witcher. I remember finding the one shot with naked ladies rather unsettling. I 'm expecting the D&D series to be something that I can maybe watch with a band of friends and a keg of pale ale.

[CharonsHelper]

Hasbro has gone all in on everything being set in the Realms, so set your expectations accordingly.

That's not surprising at all - and probably a good business decision. (The latter I'm all for as a [small-time] stockholder who has not been especially pleased over the direction of HAS over the last year or so - though appears to finally on the upswing. *crosses fingers* )

The Forgotten Realms is the default of 5e, the setting of Baldur's Gate 3 (which appears to already be doing well in early access), and undoubtedly D&D's most iconic setting. If they're banking on the D&D name bringing in their starter-audience (that alone likely won't help much beyond a few episodes - but will give it a jump-start) then using Forgotten Realms is almost certainly the way to go.

Is it the right decision for the best show artistically? *shrug* I think that that depends far more on all of the little details such as the quality of the dialogue and plotting than the particular setting that it's in.

Like, I was one of those people who didn't finish the first episode of The Witcher. I remember finding the one shot with naked ladies rather unsettling. I 'm expecting the D&D series to be something that I can maybe watch with a band of friends and a keg of pale ale.

I liked The Witcher - but at times it was definitely trying too hard for that HBO/Thrones gratuitous sex/violence/cursing vibe. The books were grim - but not really gratuitous, especially the earlier stories which season 1 of the show covered.

But anyway, I would be shocked if Hasbro didn't keep it to PG-13 with a D&D licensed show.

[Xyril]

I actually liked that series. =(

Didn't mean to offend... I watched it and largely enjoyed it until it was canceled, but it wasn't something I thought was great enough to watch again.

More to my original point, it was arguably the best non-campy/comedic fantasy series being produced at the time, and in that respect, it was really sad to me that the show holding that title was just okay.

[Clertar]

Is it the right decision for the best show artistically? *shrug* I think that that depends far more on all of the little details such as the quality of the dialogue and plotting than the particular setting that it's in.

That's an interesting way to qualify the plot and script of a series But I completely agree. The particular DnD setting doesn't matter, if the script and production are good the series will be good even in a vanilla generic medieval fantasy setting; if they're mediocre, even in our favourite DnD setting the series will suck.

[CharonsHelper]

That's an interesting way to qualify the plot and script of a series But I completely agree. The particular DnD setting doesn't matter, if the script and production are good the series will be good even in a vanilla generic medieval fantasy setting; if they're mediocre, even in our favourite DnD setting the series will suck.

Yeah - I meant it to be facetious. Glad someone caught it.

[GrayDeath]

I thought Jeremy Irons' performance was one of the greatest comedic acts of our age, so it has that going for it.

But thats Jeremy Irons.

He could play a silent Librarian and have more acting in his lifting an eyebrow than most other actors have in a 30 minute Monologue.

And even with that, the Movie sucked.


Sigh....

[Bartmanhomer]

I wonder if Ao or Lady of Pain will be in the live-action D&D television series?

[Anonymouswizard]

I wonder if Ao or Lady of Pain will be in the live-action D&D television series?

No.

The series will be far too low powered for that.

All we know right now is that it'll probably include three things: a Dungeon, a dragon, and a human Fighter. Probably a Rogue and Wizard as well. And that's basic extrapolation from what most people think of when you say D&D. We also know it'll be set in the Forgotten Realms, but we don't know if it'll be in a way that matters.

[Bartmanhomer]

No.

The series will be far too low powered for that.

All we know right now is that it'll probably include three things: a Dungeon, a dragon, and a Human Fighter. Probably a Rogue and Wizard as well. And that's a basic extrapolation from what most people think of when you say D&D. We also know it'll be set in the Forgotten Realms, but we don't know if it'll be in a way that matters.

Ok. Well, they could throw in a Demon Lord, an Archdevil, or even a Yugoloth Lord just to make the show interesting.

[Anonymouswizard]

Ok. Well, they could throw in a Demon Lord, an Archdevil, or even a Yugoloth Lord just to make the show interesting.

Are those dragons? Do they appear in a dungeon?

Not that they won't be involved in the plot, probably as a bigger Bad. But for what actually appears, the story is more likely to have a human or demihuman Big Bad who's most likely a Wizard or Cleric (they're unlikely to make the difference between Wizards and Warlocks explicit), who is defeated by our series using hero Conan Thundarr Ridley Jimbob Fahm Boie.

[Dargaron]

No.

The series will be far too low powered for that.

All we know right now is that it'll probably include three things: a Dungeon, a dragon, and a human Fighter. Probably a Rogue and Wizard as well. And that's basic extrapolation from what most people think of when you say D&D. We also know it'll be set in the Forgotten Realms, but we don't know if it'll be in a way that matters.

Hey, who knows: maybe they'll pull a 3.5 and the fighter slot will be taken by a gruff dwarf with an axe.