There are already D&D superfans questioning a number of elements depicted in the trailer, of particular concern is the lady who turns into an Owlbear, the assumption being she’s a Druid; a class that can turn into animals, an Owlbear however is a monster not an animal and isn’t traditionally a thing a Druid can turn into.
Me… I don’t mind, though an explanation in the movie itself would be grand.
No way am I going to associate that iconic track with that stupid movie. Might’ve hung with it longer if they didn’t resort to that move.
I mean, are they actually superfans or supercritics? My take on D&D is that it was always supposed to have some flexibility as long as nobody was too overpowered, and rules lawyers just didn’t get the spirit of the game. 
Right? The transformation could be a curse, a divine boon, or even from a magic item like a ring or amulet. Even if she’s a druid, that doesn’t mean it has to be a spell.
I was thinking it would be pretty fun if they could turn the module Expedition to the Barrier Peaks into a movie or a video game with Chris Pine in it.
Of course, there are so many classic modules that would make great movies, like Ravenloft or the Slaver’s series.
That’s always been my take as well. But rules lawyers will always want to rules lawyer and they’ve been around since the earliest editions. They still count as superfans in my estimation, it’s just that instead of geeking out about what color Superman’s boxer-briefs should canonically be, they’re geeking out about whether or not certain aspects of a trailer are accurate to the rules of D&D.
Off-topic, but someone who plays Dungeons & Dragons Online recently did some in-game cosplay by gathering as many outfits that could pass as close to the iconic images of the Justice League as possible, and took screenshots to make fan-art.
Whether or not the movie will be entertaining, the entire idea of making a Dungeons & Dragons movie makes no sense to me. The game is enjoyable because the players are driving the story. Trying to sell a movie of it seems like selling a book of Mad Libs where all the blanks have already been filled in and you just read it without any input.
That said, it’s been an idea for a long, long time. I’ve been going through old issues of Dragon magazine and Gary Gygax was anticipating a D&D movie from the moment the game really started to get popular and become a household name in the early 1980s. (And yeah, I know it actually already happened before now, but the less said about that, the better.)
My son is totally hooked on the novels along with the game. The D&D franchise is really a vast sandbox to set a story inside of rather than something that suggests a single plot or cast of characters.
The commercial success of D&D tie-in novels (of which there are currently several hundred, including a number by Gary Gygax himself) suggests there is a pretty wide appetite for that kind of fiction.
Perhaps a wizard did it? I mean, if it’s going to work anywhere this is it
I agree completely and well said. It seems strange to call something a DnD movie if it’s scripted. Sure there’s a monster manual and world books to draw from, but that feels like so much swappable window-dressing. The spirit is in the collaborative and spontaneous play.
I played a small bit of D&D as a youth, but never had a big group, but have a few Actual Play podcasts that are among my favorite pieces of entertainment going. I find it actuall harder to listen to scripted stuff than before, because the thrill of unexpectedness, and the grouo having secret lotivations adds so much.
Now if the movie was improvised, with dice rolls perhaps… well either that or had Princess-Bride-style bookends of a fictional basement group…
Shut up, and take my 5d4 x 10 gold coins!
When we talk about a “DnD movie” we should be aware that the roleplaying aspect of the game will not have any place in it - it is a normal, scripted film with plot, story and setting expectations like any other. What makes it DnD will be the hidden or open references and in-jokes. As long as you can weave them into the script skillfully, it can work for fans and noninitiate audiences equally.
Here’s the trailer for the actual best D&D movie ever made, even if they didn’t officially have the licensing. You can’t tell me that this wasn’t somebody’s D&D campaign that got awkwardly ported into a film:
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