As far as Ryan Scott of MovieWeb can tell us, there’s no real forward movement on a Dungeons & Dragons movie that is supposedly coming down the pipeline after so long. The last few movies that attempted to engage the fans didn’t do all that well and a couple of them went straight to DVD, but were somehow a little more faithful to the game than the 2000 version starring Jeremy Irons as the main villain and Marlon Wayans as a supporting character. One big problem with making a D&D movie is that the scope of the game is simply massive. There are so many adventures to play off of and an entire world to take in when it comes to the story since it’s a role-playing game that’s designed to let people expand their imaginations and simply have fun. For example there are classes that don’t make a lot of sense to the rational-minded individuals among us and yet they compliment the game perfectly since they combine various skills and abilities that allow the characters to click with their other party members and help them in various ways that those who’ve never played the game wouldn’t understand. There are also many races, classes, and specialized classes to go around, more so than any of us that started out in earlier versions of the game have likely seen.
Just to make a point, there are 11 base classes in the 3rd edition, the Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Wizard, Sorcerer, Monk, Rogue, Paladin, and Fighter. Those are the classes to pick from, and one thing that any D&D player knows is that either the Cleric or the Paladin are great to have in a party since they tend to be the healers, those that can magically seal a wound or know how to field-dress it at the very least. The Fighter and the Barbarian, as well as the Monk, are those that tend to be heaviest hitters and therefore are typically played by some of the most aggressive players, while the Wizard, Sorcerer, and Bard are often for those that have a keen intellect and don’t like rushing into things. The Druid is often among the most mocked of the classes as despite being powerful they are more or less bound by the rules of nature and tend to be more aloof than the rest of the party, while it’s hard to trust a person faithfully playing a Rogue. Playing the part of a Ranger is considered to be easy or difficult depending on how the character is played since they tend to be good fighters from a distance or up close, kind of like Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. Learning which characters will work best in a movie however all depends on the adventure, what the plot is, and whether or not certain classes will be at a severe advantage or disadvantage. It’s easy to assume though that the Rogue, Wizard, Cleric, Fighter, and possibly the Barbarian might be the classes that will be used and humans, half-orcs, and elves will be the races of choice, along with dwarves of course.
Dragons of course will be a big part of the movie, but depending on how those who are writing decide to spin it, this might be one of the best times to start thinking of some of the more classic tales from Wizards of the Coast that would fit perfectly into a D&D setting, such as Elminster, or Drizzt, a Drow elf who’s also a Ranger and his many adventures with his companions, a dwarven fighter by the name of Bruenor Battlehammer, a human barbarian named Wulfgar, a male halfling named Regis, and his panther companion Guenhyvar. There are too many stories within the Forgotten Realms archives that have delved directly into D&D to simply ignore them, even if the writers are being prompted to come up with something new. This is one time when catering to the fans would come up big without a doubt, since many upon many loyal fans to the novelist R.A. Salvatore and his creations have been waiting for a movie about Drizzt to come forth, especially since it would fit so perfectly into a D&D campaign. Given the fact that it does sound like the idea could be to create a series of movies, it might appear feasible to someone in the writer’s room at some point. It’s a hope at least, but a feeble one.
It was a hope as well that upon hearing about the first Dungeons and Dragons movie that it would be faithful to the game in a big way, and yet it was a little disappointing to see just what became of it. Mordicai Knode of Tor.com had something to say about this. The truth is that D&D is a multifaceted experience that doesn’t always cling to one idea, especially given that there are simply too many ideas to pick from.
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