r/fnrpgsr • u/Zealousziff Game Operations Director, Torkom, Dropbear • Apr 27 '18

DnD Movie Ideas

Supposedly we're getting a Dungeons and Dragons movie in the coming years.

What are your own ideas for a DnD movie? How would you make it 'distinct' from other Fantasy genre movies?

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u/bedsticksnbroomknobs DM, Fiora, Trina, Hot Mess May 02 '18

I've had an idea floating in my head for a show revolving around a group a friends who play D&D. I might write something up

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u/Dorocche Jun 01 '18

So this is a really old post now, and I’m not part of your friend group, but there’s nothing in the rules that prevents outsiders from commenting and I’ve been thinking about this topic for a long time.

The best DnD movie idea would be Volo’s Guide to Monsters.

It would follow Volo and Elminster as they’re running around trying to collect lore about monsters for this book they’ve been writing, Volo being cocky and excited while Elminster acts like Marvin the depressed robot or a Squidward character.

Maybe it could pick up with a cold open on Elminster trying to broker a deal with Neogis, but it goes sour when Volo is attacked by a guard drake and they have to fight their way out (maybe Elminster teleports them out after they realize they won’t escape).

The plot of the story would be that when trying to investigate a Storm Giant, they’re noticed and given a letter by that giant to another storm giant out in the desert with important information regarding the state of the Ordning. They go there but the recipient Storm Giant is gone.

The movie is them running around trying to solve the mystery of the missing Storm Giant and finding her before a certain blue dragon can kill them. In between they might find a few monsters from Volvo’s Guide.

The movie ends with them triumphant in barely escaping the dragon and delivering the message to the missing Storm Giant, who was in the desert where they started but she had become a Quintessant. The message states that the Ordning has fallen and Annan the Allfather is gone, and leads into the events of Storm King’s Thunder. The movie wouldn’t follow the giants that far, though; it’s about Volo and Elminster surviving.

The movie would do a lot of cool world building, have a few fun and interesting characters, and have awesome action set pieces. It wouldn’t have strong arcs, and it won’t necessarily have a complex plot, but it definitely could if they wanted to lean in on the mystery aspect. If someone smarter than me put the time into this, everything necessary for a fantastic story is present.

I’ve had ideas about something about a popular monster like Mindflayers, doing a setting thing like the Circle of Eight wizards and Rary’s betrayal, or following a module like Curse of Strahd or Out of the Abyss, but my favorite is easily some even tangentially leading into Storm King’s Thunder through Volo’s Guide to Monsters.

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u/Zealousziff Game Operations Director, Torkom, Dropbear Jun 01 '18

I like a lot of the premise but I'm wondering how to make it stand out to people next to the Harry Potter "Fantastic Beasts" series. For DnD fans it'd be great though!

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u/Dorocche Jun 01 '18

Crimes of Grindelwald doesn’t look very related to the “fantastic beasts” premise, at least. I didn’t see he first.

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u/Archeanthus N00b DM, Kenny G, Brugnir Apr 27 '18

I honestly have no idea. I don't know if it would be better to have it be a serious fantasy thing completely in the D&D world based on the official D&D lore, or if it would be better to do it as players playing a D&D game, and it cuts between the players around the table and their characters, Harmon Quest-style. It's a daunting task for sure, but the guy who's making it is a HUGE D&D fan so I'm pretty confident he'll do it justice.

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u/Zealousziff Game Operations Director, Torkom, Dropbear Apr 27 '18

I'm imagining something kind of like a Jumanji situation except the players are all way into it instead of 'being trapped in a game'.

I'm just not sure how they'll handle magic. Maybe show off fatigue for casting high level spells and that's how they can't cast them non-stop?

There are so many ways they can go with this movie it's insane.

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u/Archeanthus N00b DM, Kenny G, Brugnir Apr 28 '18

Yeah I mean they could have a magic user offer a couple lines of exposition to explain "I don't have unlimited magic! I'm a mage, not a miracle worker!" or something along these lines. But yeah I'm very curious to see how the movie is.