A World of Darkness sounds pretty bleak, but it also sounds like something that would be perfect for a movie and a TV series as it’s being developed for both by the same company that’s been responsible for The Witcher, which is still on its way back for a second season eventually. But while some people might equate the tabletop game that inspired this idea with Dungeons and Dragons, A World of Darkness is set in modern times and apparently deals less with the same elements of D&D than it does with the idea of the many monsters that it courts attempting to fit in with civilization in their own ways. The kind of monsters that will be featured on the big and small screens are those that, in D&D, tend to be viewed as vicious, arcane in some instances, and usually painted as one of the main villains or lackeys of the main villain that are to be feared. In this case, it sounds as though the monsters have taken on a different role as they’ve been forced to conform to being creatures of the night that live within or just outside of society and are doing everything they can to be accepted or to make their voices heard. In other words, it’s taking the monsters we’ve known and watched for so long, multiplying them in order to create a society, and setting them in the modern world to play. It sounds like an intriguing idea, to be honest, but it also sounds like something that could be easily botched if the directors of each project aren’t willing to pay attention to the kind of details that fans are going to want to see. There’s a reason why D&D hasn’t really taken off in movies or on TV at this point, and the fact that it’s such an expansive experience and such a large world filled with so many possibilities is only partly to blame. This kind of gaming experience is so huge and differs so much from campaign to campaign that one has to think that the main thrust of the story if there is one, is bound to be lost at some point through no fault of anyone but the director.
For an idea of this magnitude, it feels more likely that an anthology would be the best approach and that even a movie would be better served by being split up into several separate tales, almost like Pulp Fiction, while centering around one central idea that will keep them all linked in one way or another. The possibility of keeping such a project going is something that has yet to be fully realized, but an anthology for a board game would be kind of fun to see happen in this case since there are so many stories that could overlap and center around one central purpose that, once established and solved, defeated, whatever, could read to another idea much as it does in real life, where one solution is hardly ever the answer that people are seeking. In other words, A World of Darkness could last for a long time if people could figure out how to keep it interesting, keep it moving, and continue the story in a manner that people would mind following as it conforms and relates to whatever is happening in the world at that given time. People love struggle, drama, strife, and a story that will encompass what folks can relate to is usually something that, if it’s seen to be adaptable, will perform fairly well since to be fair, people can’t help but pay attention to stories that might reflect a part of their own lives. The fantasy and fiction parts of the story would still be necessary and would need to be held up as much as possible to remove the story from the actual reality that it might attempt to emulate, but creating an anthology would be one of the best ways to go about bringing an idea such as this to the public.
But then, there’s no telling what will be headed our way, or how it will be presented since to be certain it’s a very expansive world and thinking that there’s any one way to tell a story is a fallacy that a lot of us have entertained more than once in the long history of humanity. This particular project is bound to be something that will be aimed at entertaining the viewers, but it feels as though it could lose its forward thrust very quickly unless those that are working on it are entirely dedicated to bringing as much as they can for as long as possible in order to sustain the story and keep it from becoming a flat and lusterless mess that too many similar stories have become. The hope of course is to see it thrive, and that’s why we’ll be following the project to see what happens.
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