New D&D Movie Trailer

[God_In_Action]

So a trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves has dropped:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiMinix ... ntPictures

What do people think?

They're clearly going for a superhero movie vibe and also get a sense of silliness or even slapstick from it. I'm not predicting great things, but not an awful flop either; probably something very middling and forgettable.

Note the Marvel-esque dialogue and (supposed) comedy, the nice representations of monsters (which at least felt weighty and real), the high-fantasy and less realistic representation of weapons, the completely cliché storyline.

The movie will go something like this:
1) Heroes get together. There is a short first act in which we get to find out their powers. There is some friction between them.
2) The Heroes do a Thing. This makes Big Bad angry Big Bad is the baddie because they are big, and they are bad.
3) Heroes try to fix the Thing. They face supposed danger.
4) There is a trite plot twist/emotional event/set back before the final act.
5) Heroes overcome their earlier friction to work together/grow as people/discover the power of friendship to defeat Big Bad.
6) Post-credit sequence reveals that the Big Bad wasn't defeated/there is a Bigger Bad, after all, in case the movie sells lots of tickets.

[-XXX-]

I hope it lives up to the expectations :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV3roWM0DSs

[AstralUniverse]

trailers can often build really high hopes when they're good.... and this is a very good trailer imo. It's safe to say that their choice for cast isnt terrible and that the production has the budget to pull off something impressive.

[Algol]

Marvels effect on movies for last decade has been really off putting for me.

[Ithalan]

Anyone else notice the Harper pin?

[MRFTW]

I hope it lives up to the expectations :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV3roWM0DSs

This feels like the evil twin of Raul Julia's M. Bison, from the Street Fighter movie

[Irongron]

I've had low expectations for this, and it looks very much as I expected. I recall saying a few years back that they'd try to make D&D the fantasy McU and that the movie would be an attempt to remake Guardians of the Galaxy.

I'm actually pretty blown away by just how true that prediction has turned out to be. It actually looks very similar in tone to what they attempted back in 2000, but with a bigger budget.

I do think it will be a relative success though, and a big payday for WotC, so congratulations all round there. Sequel will bomb, and we can meet back here in another 20 years.

[Brandon Steel]

I’m expecting pretty much nothing but at least it doesn’t seem like it takes itself very seriously.

[MissEvelyn]

"Honor Among Thieves" has to be a nod to the disastrously charming first D&D movie they attempted

[vawton]

If this movie is good it won't be because it's D&D, it will be because it has good writing, good acting and quality production. It looks like it's just a standard heist movie wrapped in D&D clothing and they're trying to be cool by using modern language and music.

What we really need is for Peter Jackson to make The Crystal Shard.

[The GrumpyCat]

I will say, I think they're smart in using the signature monsters of DnD as thneir 'this is DnD' signal. That is a cunning move. I think not making it too po faced is a good idea as well. The irreverent humour actually does kinda work for a DnDesk game. How good it'll be over all though? We'll wait and see.

To Clarify - the marvel-esque style of it is very derivertive by this point, true. But on the other hand I still actually think it's a /good/ style for it to have? Or at least not a bad style.

[Waldo52]

This trailer made me lose a lot of faith in the fandom. I tried to tell myself that lifelong D&D players weren't like Marvel/Disney/Harry Potter adults, that there was this fascinating literary tradition from Tolkien that had parallels with Star Trek, that I was engaging in something centered around math, creativity and arcane knowledge. I'm not the smartest guy, but I felt like I was hanging out with a smart crowd.

I never wanted another D&D movie, and if it happened I wasn't expecting The Godfather or Silence of the Lambs. But this is basically looking like The Avengers or (insert Pixar film here).

We're better than this, let's pretend it never happened. Not in my name.

[The GrumpyCat]

This trailer made me lose a lot of faith in the fandom. I tried to tell myself that lifelong D&D players weren't like Marvel/Disney/Harry Potter adults, that there was this fascinating literary tradition from Tolkien that had parallels with Star Trek, that I was engaging in something centered around math, creativity and arcane knowledge. I'm not the smartest guy, but I felt like I was hanging out with a smart crowd.

I never wanted another D&D movie, and if it happened I wasn't expecting The Godfather or Silence of the Lambs. But this is basically looking like The Avengers or (insert Pixar film here).

We're better than this, let's pretend it never happened. Not in my name.

I mean, Amazon's Rings of Power is coming out in september, you're probably best just watching that and pretending it's a DnD game.

From my personal experience, all the roleplay I've done - and I include times before the marvel films even came out - has leaned a lot more to that style, than to the solemnity of Lord of the Rings. A lot of games I've been involved in have included at least some measure of humour, irreverence, anacronisms, and sillyness. Likewise pretty much all of the gaming shows I've seen (Critical Roll, Dimension 20...) have had at least some of that within it, even if it was a very serious and grim story (looking at you Exandria Cataclysm).

I mean the problem is that yeah, they could do some very serious, very solemn, very epic fantasy story but a) that honestly is not really what a lot of DnD is in most peoples experience. b) That probably won't be very popular and honestly takes a LOT of skill to pull off. c) As I sort of mentioned, that's far more Lord of the Rings than DnD, and there's a series of that coming out already.

So yeah, I get where you're coming from sure, and I do actually get the world-wearyness of another 'marvel' style thing. I actually think that's a very valid complaint. On the other hand, I think in this case the style does actually wierdly suit the game? So I can't find it in me to complain too much.

[IanPatron]

I will decidedly SKIP this movie and wait for something from Forgotten Realms.

I watched the first DnD movie at the movie theaters and it was garbage.

From what I see here nothing has changed. The CGI dragons look abysmal. The CGI magic use in it looked boring as well. Plus because it isn't Forgotten Realms, I don't know any of these characters, if they even existed before this movie came out. The set pieces and visuals aren't that great.

It has this very... bland, cookie cutter feel to it, and something in my gut tells me just by seeing the trailer... probably won't be a sequel... unless it's direct to streaming.

[Chosen Son]

It takes place in the forgotten realms. Waterdeep and Neverwinter at least. The bard also seemed to have a harper pin on his vest.

[wulfburk]

This trailer made me lose a lot of faith in the fandom. I tried to tell myself that lifelong D&D players weren't like Marvel/Disney/Harry Potter adults, that there was this fascinating literary tradition from Tolkien that had parallels with Star Trek, that I was engaging in something centered around math, creativity and arcane knowledge. I'm not the smartest guy, but I felt like I was hanging out with a smart crowd.

/s ? If not..this us vs them mentality (in your case, smart x dumb.. what?) is a little bit out of date, this aint the 1980s where "geeks" were inclined to be ostracized. It has all gone mainstream and so it is only natural that, if most people like marvel films and their style, most dnd players will as well. Odds are that there is a significant overlap between "Marvel adults" and D&D players.

I myself will probably watch the movie just to see what kind of references they'll show, at most expecting some cheap and short entertainment. Because that is what this kind of movie is, and there's nothing wrong with it. But then again, this marvel-style oversaturation hasnt impacted me, since the last movie of theirs I saw was Logan, and before that Iron Man 1. And i'll agree with GrumpyCat that no matter the similarities to Marvel, the style indeed seems to fit dnd party dynamics.

[Exordius]

Meh i liked the dnd movies, including the first one... yeah they were corny but the actors were good, hell first movie even had Tom Baker in it briefly and that gets points just by being in there, and Damodar is pretty sick as a villain in both his appearances.

[God_In_Action]

Come to think of it, I'm expecting that this film will resemble the Pikachu Detective movie. It has tongue in cheek humour, a big name actor, world building exposition and lots of monster cameos.

And the Pikachu movie wasn't bad. It wasn't good either.

[IanPatron]

Oh then if it is set in forgotten realms, I will see it.

I'm kind of sighing in relief cause I could have sworn I saw red wizards of Thay.

[Irongron]

There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek, playing it for laughs on display here, similar to what I see in many D&D session streams. It gives me strong impression that many involved are embarrassed by D&D and fantasy RP, and so only partake -'ironically' (Something, interestingly, Stranger Things has decidedly not done in its presentation of the game).

What I'd prefer would be a serious FR or Dragonlance movie, that wasn't so afraid of its own shadow.

But, well, that was never going to happen. Fun family movies piggybacking off name recognition are a massive payday, and sell a ton of merchandise.

Sometimes it's almost like people forget (myself included) D&D is the property of Hasbro.

[riffraff]

In my experience, both as a DM and a player, there aren't many things more D&D than:
"If the existing plan fails, I make a new plan."
"So you make plans that fail."

I personally am looking forward to spotting the D&D Easter eggs and references, annoying my friends by pointing out all the FR lore and nitpicking the rules stuff with them. I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets excited to see a displacer beast in anything at all.

[chris a gogo]

I liked the trailer.
I played table top when i was a kid D@D, MERP, Paranoia etc..
So the fun aspect is kind of bang on, online play is alot different especially NWN as it's taken more seriously probably because your playing with relative strangers and can't share a laugh and joke as you would do across a table.

[Irongron]

I played table top when i was a kid D@D, MERP, Paranoia etc..

We may have had the same childhood.

And you're right, absolutely - the degree of levity while playing doesn't necessarily match the generally serious setting (roles that may well be reversed in a more brutal Paranoia session).

With the D&D movie, I generally have the same feeling I did last time round, that I'd rather it told the grand tales of the established setting, rather than trying to emulate a standard adventuring party.

Still, I totally get why this is, and why making the movie I'd prefer would almost certainly fail to draw an audience of the size they are aiming for.

It has parallels with Star Trek that go beyond Chris Pine. Back then Star Trek was a massive name to capitalize (monetize), but fandom, and the detailed setting stood firmly in the way. Its back history of movies, TV shows and books were a huge barrier to entry - however big the core brand name may be, an ever decreasing number of die hard fans would line up to see the latest installment in an ever more complex franchise.

A fair amount was written about this phenomenon at the time. If the owning studio wanted to truly cash in on the household name of Star Trek, they had to reboot; to peel it back to the core recognisable elements (Enterprise, Spock etc), this wasn't just about nostalgia, but achieving maximum accessibility, so that everyone could walk into theatre and feel equally invested. Many established fans were livid, having invested decades in a setting that was totally, and cynically retconnned in order to achieve maximum box office (I recall a great youtube video on the subject).

Which leads back to D&D. Like Trek it has a name, logo and a few key elements that are a culturally beloved (and nostalgic), universally recognised brand. Like Trek it is owned by an entity all too aware of just how lucrative that combination can be, and like Trek, accessibilty is hindered by decades worth of exposition and a gatekeeping fan community.

Anyone watching how D&D has evolved these last years shouldn't be surprised; writers have been put out to pasture, source books discontinued and the RPG and its many settings pruned and condensed after a great many years of convoluted expansion.

With Trek, the frightening math is that eventually the rebooted version would reach the point where it too was no longer accessible, and the studios would increasingly return to the discontinued timeline in an attempt to win back alienated fans, which they have, while they presumably wait out the clock on the next reboot opportunity.

The D&D strategy is sound, and may well generate a new generation of fans if properly managed, or it may simply generate a short lived but highly profitable market saturation of D&D related content. Either way Hasbro stand to make a fortune on a property that has, for a long time, generated revenue far below its potential.

In either case, 10 years from now it will be old, loyal and curmudgeonly fans that remain, and one day they will get their lovingly told epic tales of the Forgotten Realms.

Just not today.

[ElvenEdibles]

It takes place in the forgotten realms. Waterdeep and Neverwinter at least. The bard also seemed to have a harper pin on his vest.

shit you're right

I do think it will be a relative success though, and a big payday for WotC, so congratulations all round there. Sequel will bomb, and we can meet back here in another 20 years.

I know you are joking but can/will you do this another 20 years?

[Ork]

I do think it will be a relative success though, and a big payday for WotC, so congratulations all round there. Sequel will bomb, and we can meet back here in another 20 years.

I know you are joking but can/will you do this another 20 years?

He better! I have to introduce my son to nwn at an age he's old enough to not be corrupted by all yall Neanderthals.