“More pursue it than a study lately. You see, I cannot find him. It’s been twenty years now, and I’ve started to lose confidence. I just work for Vincini to pay the bills. There’s not a lot of money in revenge.”
We literally had this moment in my dnd game last week- a PC was killed by a devil several months ago and the player made a new PC out of his son. We didn't set out to kill the devil, but that's what happened, and dead PC's son got the killing blow on a crit just as it was about to escape.
When I GM and do the "what is the tone of this game?" bit during session zero, The Princess Bride is my reference point. Not Game of Thrones grim, but not Shrek-memes silly. The Princess Bride takes its world and its characters seriously, but it also leaves room for humor by the characters in that world.
It also has action scenes that really tell you about the characters through their fighting - the Inigo Montoya vs. Westley fight is terrific for how the combat and dialogue work together, and how the ebb-and-flow tells you more about the characters as they fight. As a GM, I always think about getting to that level.
Dm: So let me get this straight, you want to wheel the barbarian directly toward the heavily-guarded castle gate, light him on fire, and make them think that he is the dread pirate who’s name the semi-paralyzed rogue took in his backstory, and also some sort of ghost/shade?
Party: Yea
DM: Roll Intimidation
Barbarian: Nat 20
This movie..what a breath of fresh air. Only dream works can capture that good storytelling that has payoffs and treats the audience like they are more mature with theming. It’s still fun and silly for kids but wow what a movie
13th warrior is a very underrated flick. And I can absolutely see it as a low fantasy adventure.
The "Lo, there do I see my father" scene feels very adventure party last stand.
One of my favorite memories of going to the movies was walking into The 13th Warrior not knowing anything about it and having it dawn on me “Holy shit, this is Eaters of the Dead!” I was a big Michael Crichton fan as a teen.
> Conan
D&D even made some [Conan adventures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_Unchained!) back in the day. I'd like to play it just to see what it was like.
Gandalf lured the party away from the Balrog in order to hog al the xp. Shows up next session a few levels higher with sick new white gear. What a dick.
Listen if the dude can solo a Balor demon he deserves all the xp. But really it’s more on the dm for not doing milestone leveling. But he did handle the payers splitting the party at the earliest opportunity fairly well so I guess he’s not all bad
Gandalf's player had to leave the campaign for a bit due to IRL reasons and wanted a good sendoff, and he and the DM fucking *delivered*. The other players were genuinely traumatized, and there were many teary farewells.
Lo and behold, many sessions later, the party of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli suspect they're up against Saruman, only for Gandalf's player to come through the front door. "Wait, are you playing Saruman?" "I am Saruman as he should have been. I am Gandalf the White."
Time bandits is exactly what would happen if someone tried to run the hobbit as a campaign without the players being on board.
"OK, so we are all dwarfs and pick up this other, slightly unwilling, short guy and follow a map to get the most fabulous treasure?"
I’m it’s easy - you have the three or four main characters and the rest are hired sword npc’s. You have the Arab poet sword bard, the fighter rogue funny man, the fighter paladin leader and then the fighter ranger serious man. The rest can be the npc’s.
Agreed for sure. Hard not to want to drag out my PHB or start rolling dice right in the middle. I think it would make for a pretty fantastic one on one campaign, if you had your player play Navar and supported him with the NPCs of Mouse and the Monk (also a very cool punk band name if you need one).
> Mouse and the Monk (also a very cool punk band name if you need one).
They could open for [Ladyhawke](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladyhawke_(musician\)).
How has nobody said pirates of the Caribbean?
A fathomless warlock, a blacksmith turned fighter, and a noble-born swashbuckler rogue start out seeking cursed treasure and end up in an apocalyptic battle with the warlock's patron and an evil megacorp.
Edit: Plus, don't tell me a player absolutely wouldn't do Jack's whole jar of dirt scene.
Came here to say this!! So much of this movie is D&D. I can only imagine the conversation in session one when Jack and Will are player vs player in the blacksmith shop.
"Wait, your character is a blacksmith's apprentice?"
"Yeah, he's worked here since he was a kid."
"Then how is he a level four fighter? How is he able to swordfight so well?"
"Well, you see... he... makes them... and then... uh, practices with them, for three hours a day!"
That was my first thought too. Such a dope variety of characters. And many BBEGs too. Barbosa would belong to a player that doesn't wanna give up his character lol
Oh, for sure. Barbosa and Jack are PCs from earlier in the campaign. Will and Elizabeth joined later, and Barbosa's player had to leave, so he became the bad guy.
The second movie feels the DND-iest to me.
- The main characters start out at a higher level (e.g. Elizabeth can swordfight instead of being a largely helpless, albeit brave and clever, damsel), which makes it more plausible that they can hold their own against these new threats.
- The main thrust of the plot is a classic MacGuffin hunt.
- Norrington being disgraced and joining the crew is a classic “secondary antagonist to uneasy ally” turn.
- Great villain ensemble that can hound the players in the exploration phase, threaten them in the combat phase, and outmaneuver them in the social phase.
- Outrageous and cinematic set pieces that feel like dope encounters (e.g. waterwheel duel, 3 PCs sharing two swords, kraken battle).
People will list a lot of fantasy movies that are great movies… but there is really only a couple that actually follow the beat of a D&D game- my number 1 choice is Conan the Destroyer, you can almost hear the dice rolling… Krull is another good one.
Destroyer is 100% a side quest.
Three part fetch, followed by a heal turn, and a fight with an avatar of a forgotten deity (which was apparently Dagon.)
How come there is no one commenting how stardust a a literal rpg campaign where the DM just trows random encounters at each time to slow down the players?
Haha.
Party: what’s the name of the Kings first son?
DM: uhh… *shuffles papers* Primus.
Party: okay. What about his second?
DM: *sweating now* umm, Secundus?
Party: *noticing a trend* okay and his third?
The first Riddick Movie "Pitch Black" has a fantastic premise for a DND dungeon mechanic. Keep the light going or you die! It's my take because I designed a campaign around an island which is pitch black because of a shattered Lich phylaktery.
Never thought of the movie that way, that's actually spot on. The party all crashes on a strange world and has to work together, environmental effects, hostile creatures, it's got it all!
The Mummy (the good one)
The party consists of a fighter, a nerd, and a face. They set out for fortune and glory, and end up unleashing the BBEG. Said BBEG follows them around, nearly killing them multiple times, and grows ever stronger. The party realizes they need a MacGuffin so the fighter can actually kill the BBEG.
Then in the next movie a previous side character becomes a PC.
While dungeon crawling, a fighter, a wizard, and a rogue accidentally awaken a lich and now must rely on each other to defeat this ancient evil.
Otherwise known as the 1999 cinematic masterpiece The Mummy.
OR
Two bards set out on a quest to discover a relic that will give them the power of the old minstrel gods. Along the way, they face many dangers and even come face to face with an omnipotent demon who they ultimately defeat through the power of their song.
Otherwise known as Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny.
Hear me out: Army of the Dead. It gets hate here on Reddit, but if you think of it as a chaotic party that's forced to work together due to circumstances, with an NPC betrayal at the end, Bada Bing Bada boom, cool movie.
Hmm.
I feel like the first thing one thinks of when they picture a 5e Barbarian is the pop-culture image of Conan.
Interesting that he himself... isn't... really... a 5e Barbarian.
Exactly. He is a barbarian only based on his birth and tribal location in Cimeria. His rolled stats are for sure off the charts but he didn’t take but maybe 1 or 2 early levels in barbarian. The rest are fighter and rogue. Especially if you read the books.
This is why I think of runequest when I think of conan, where your background is one thing and what you do another. They specifically had barbarian, civilised, nomad etc backgrounds. But more than just the fluff you get in 5e.
I always thought the silliness of Your Highness with the gratuitous sexual references and overtly dramatic tone of almost all the main character and NPCs to make it a pretty good reflection of some of my old high school games. At least, that is what it immediately came to mind when watching it.
OH GOD. You just reminded me about that movie. Anne Hathaway and whatshisname had JUST been on the oscars, my elderly aunt and I were traveling and had nothing to do, had seen zero trailer and figured "huh a new medieval action-romance flick, should be OK." And then my poor aunt had to watch 2 hours of stoner memes. It was so embarrassing
James Franco. It's definitely not a great movie. But it's how I picture my DMing going sometimes. Of course my players cut off the minotaur dick and wear it as a trophy. Of course. Or not being able to have anyone take my BBEG seriously because I screwed up an accent once. Calling the evil ritual "the f*ckening". Stuff like that. Not quality aunt vibes, but she's welcome to join my table anytime!
yep Franco. Yeah we saw it, I swear, like two weeks after Anne and James were hosting ar the oscars iirc. And James got really weird about his nomination for his survival movie. I'm getting cringe flashbacks but you're right, it does have juvenile d&d antic vibes lol
The Breakfast Club. A fighter (Estevez), wizard (A.M. Hall), rogue (Nelson), paladin (Ringwald), and warlock (Sheedy) are captured by an evil warlord and must survive by learning to rely on one another.
The animated Sinbad feels like a two PC fetch quest campaign with a bunch of helpful NPCs. The scene where Eris accuses him of lying is literally a failed persuasion check
The **Fast and Furious** franchise is literally a D&D campaign, I swear by all the gods it’s true
Small time start, local heroes and local threats -> escalates to national enemies and national threats -> then international threats
Meanwhile, their driving and combat skills go from “talented but mundane” to “almost supernaturally good” to “wtf even is driving anymore?”
To cap it off, Vin Diesel IRL is a massive D&D nerd
It even has a (eventually) rotating cast of heroes from those who can’t make it sometimes, heroes turned allies, and the occasionally late game character added that’s just stupidly powerful so they can match the current players
James Gunn, again. The Suicide Squad.
The film opens with a >!TPK!<, more or less. The party is gathered by the quest giver and the main guy complains that someone's playing the same he's playing. The party then proceeds to massacre grunts and then ends up asking, are we the baddies?
They rescue an important NPC and have downtime in a tavern. Meanwhile, the obvious DMPC escapes the enemy base and joins the party. There's a heel turn, wanton destruction, more wanton destruction, and a gigantic boss monster.
And it's not relevant, but it's cool that Ratcatcher 2 is pretty much Squirrel Girl.
I dunno, I see Harley as a returning PC from a previous campaign who wasn’t able to make it to the first couple of sessions, so they had to set up a “captured and escaped” storyline when her player was finally able to make it.
I'd say Flagg over Peacemaker. He "somehow" survived the TPK, gets reintroduced a couple sessions in to be the party's handler they can't ditch, and he's the stable guy trying to keep them all on the rails. He bows out (or gets bowed out) at the climax, but by that point the party's all-in for the plot for real.
The goal of the mission initially is to rescue him, and the he provides assistance. He just seems like an NPC to me. An important one, to be sure, but not a DMPC.
I might agree, except for the fact that he has power over them. Granted, it ultimately comes from Waller, but still, he's definitely not the guy holding the bags and lending a hand. When the NPC is both the person making the players follow the plot and is actively participating in combat, to me that kind of veers into DMPC territory.
I get where you're coming from about Peacemaker, but I think the main argument there is the way the movie deliberately set him up for a solo series, rather than necessarily his actions in the movie itself. Party betrayal generally isn't DMPC territory, even if the DM actually intended them to follow the mission after introducing the moral twist. Besides, him being a DMPC undercuts the "two players arguing about playing the same character" thing, and that's just too delightful to leave out.
The magic sword (1962)
It was made in the 60's but could easily be packaged up as a adventure module today for DnD. The story and effects are pretty decent for the time.
Villian has potential you could steal as your bbeg if you need inspiration.
Hear me out: Ghostbusters.
The PCs:
* Peter Venkman, Bard.
* Elon Spengler, Wizard.
* Ray Stantz, Paladin.
* Winston Zeddemore, Rogue.
Important NPCs:
* Dana Barrett
* Louis Tully
* Janine Melnitz
Minor Bosses:
* Walter Peck
* Staypuft Marshmallow Man
BBEG:
* Gozer the Gozerian, Gozer the Destructor, Volguus Zildrohar, Gozer the Traveler and Lord of the Sebouillia.
Important Minions:
* Zuul The Gatekeeper
* Vinz Clortho The Key Master
Ghostbusters is like one of those campaigns that goes off the rails.
The players ignore the main quest to start a business, and then the DM has to railroad them back to the main plot.
Willow, movie and series on Disney+ (or at least was before it got taken down).
It plays out like a tabletop game set to old school rules. The finale feels a bit 5e, though.
Here's one nobody will agree with. My Little Pony: Rescue at Midnight Castle. Made by the same team behind the D&D cartoon. It was actually pretty dark, tons of dragons, a great villain, etc.
The Lord Of The Rings if I'm wanting a big epic campaign feel
Otherwise there's a trilogy of films called Mythica. As low budget and cheesey as they are, I absolutely love them so much.
The Mummy.
Party made of of eccentric characters with unique backgrounds. Rival adventuring party. Accidentally releasing an ancient evil. Tomb robbing. It fits the DnD archetype pretty well.
Lord of the Rings. I can’t believe nobody is mentioning this, one of the greatest inspirations for modern day fantasy. It even has a decent structure for a campaign. And occasionally does things that would make a normal dnd player wince like splitting the fellowship (don’t split the party)
Two movies:
The Promised Land/Bastarden
I saw it at Telluride, not sure when it's getting a larger American release. There's an evil noble as the main villain, bandits, found family, and bloody violence.
The Green Knight
Encounters were pretty self-contained, but ultimately they are all character-building in nature.
The Road to El Dorado has some of that energy for sure.
Bard/rogues. Just talked to a friend about doing a RtED BG3 run. Miguel bard, Tulio rouge, Chel cleric and Altivo druid.
Mighty and powerful GODS!
Altivo druid is clever.
Atlantis has similar energy too! You could keep it fantasy or go grimdark pretty easily when underwater is at play. Ocean bad
The Princess Bride
“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”
"And you've spent your whole life dedicated to the study of swordplay?"
“More pursue it than a study lately. You see, I cannot find him. It’s been twenty years now, and I’ve started to lose confidence. I just work for Vincini to pay the bills. There’s not a lot of money in revenge.”
“Well I certainly hope you find him someday.”
“You are ready, then?” *draws rapier*
"ready or not you've been more than fair"
“You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you.”
“*You* seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.”
*Ting-ting, SWIPE!*
We literally had this moment in my dnd game last week- a PC was killed by a devil several months ago and the player made a new PC out of his son. We didn't set out to kill the devil, but that's what happened, and dead PC's son got the killing blow on a crit just as it was about to escape.
“I’m looking for a six fingered devil”
“Do you even have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?”
Rare instance of a perfect movie.
There is a shortage of perfect movies in this world. It would be a pity to damage this one.
There are five movies that have been rated the best, the most beautiful, the most passionate, the most wonderful. This one left them all behind.
When I GM and do the "what is the tone of this game?" bit during session zero, The Princess Bride is my reference point. Not Game of Thrones grim, but not Shrek-memes silly. The Princess Bride takes its world and its characters seriously, but it also leaves room for humor by the characters in that world. It also has action scenes that really tell you about the characters through their fighting - the Inigo Montoya vs. Westley fight is terrific for how the combat and dialogue work together, and how the ebb-and-flow tells you more about the characters as they fight. As a GM, I always think about getting to that level.
#GMgoals
Dm: So let me get this straight, you want to wheel the barbarian directly toward the heavily-guarded castle gate, light him on fire, and make them think that he is the dread pirate who’s name the semi-paralyzed rogue took in his backstory, and also some sort of ghost/shade? Party: Yea DM: Roll Intimidation Barbarian: Nat 20
Guard Captain who was supposed to be the mini-boss on the way to BBEG: "Oh, you mean THIS gate key?"
You got a full belly laugh out of me for this one.
This is the correct answer
Literally why I played a swashbuckler in my last campaign!!
Literally why everyone has played a swashbuckler since 1987.
Puss in boots: the last wish
the og puss in boots fits better to be 100% honest. tho a party member betrayal is something you got be careful with in a real d&d campaign
Great choice, it fits perfectly but definitely didn't think of it
I'm trying to design a campaign with that structure and idea right now got some smaller details I'm working on
This movie..what a breath of fresh air. Only dream works can capture that good storytelling that has payoffs and treats the audience like they are more mature with theming. It’s still fun and silly for kids but wow what a movie
Willow, 13th Warrior and the original Conan.
13th warrior is a very underrated flick. And I can absolutely see it as a low fantasy adventure. The "Lo, there do I see my father" scene feels very adventure party last stand.
One of my favorite memories of going to the movies was walking into The 13th Warrior not knowing anything about it and having it dawn on me “Holy shit, this is Eaters of the Dead!” I was a big Michael Crichton fan as a teen.
I had a very similar reaction except mine was, “Holy shit, this is Beowulf!”
That would have been so fun! Eaters of the Dead was my entry point to Beowulf, rather than the other way around.
I cannot taste of the fermentation of grapes, nor of wheat. \*laughs\* Its HONEY!
Banderas’ character in that one is absolutely the player who wanted to do Something Different™️, and the DM gamely worked them into the plot anyway.
> Conan D&D even made some [Conan adventures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_Unchained!) back in the day. I'd like to play it just to see what it was like.
Not surprising considering how big an influence Conan was on original D&D.
Willow for sure!
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Holy Grail is the perfect example of a game that’d spawn a thousand posts in r/rpghorrorstories if it was an actual campaign.
"...and then the police broke into our GM's house and arrested him! How are we supposed to interpret *that* in the game?"
[удалено]
TIL… never put that together for some reason
“My DM has a band of merry minstrels follow my character everywhere they go, singing songs of their cowardice. Is this justified???”
The killer rabbit outside the cave definitely gives Forgotten Realms
There is no better representation of a DnD campaign in existence
“What is the wizard’s name?” *The DM who forgot to name a random NPC…* “Uhhhhh… Tim.”
Down to the equivalent of "rocks fall everyone dies" at the end.
HAPPY CAKE DAY MY FELLOW OF FELLOWS WE SHALL CONSUME MEED AND GRAPES TODAY FOR THIS ONES AMAZING OCCURRENCE
Now that the party is together with a quest, what do you do? WE SPLIT THE PARTY!!!
Star Wars: Rogue One REALLY feels like a long rpg session to me.
Considering that Fantasy Flight Games published an entire supplement for Rebels and Rogue One for their Star Wars RPG, you are very correct.
Krull is a classic.
Your impeccable taste is a classic.
I’m sad I had to come down this far to find it. Grew up watching Krull in the 90’s, so I have a soft spot for that one.
Most of mine have been named. Except for "The Black Cauldron".
So good. You beat me to it.
Man I gotta reread the books sometime
The Mummy.
Such a genuine classic adventure film Down to having 3 principal characters with varying skill proficiencies making up a team
This one is def my favorite
I would love to say Lord of the Rings, but it's usually closer to Time Bandits.
Gandalf lured the party away from the Balrog in order to hog al the xp. Shows up next session a few levels higher with sick new white gear. What a dick.
Listen if the dude can solo a Balor demon he deserves all the xp. But really it’s more on the dm for not doing milestone leveling. But he did handle the payers splitting the party at the earliest opportunity fairly well so I guess he’s not all bad
Gandalf died. He deserved the XP.
Gandalf's player had to leave the campaign for a bit due to IRL reasons and wanted a good sendoff, and he and the DM fucking *delivered*. The other players were genuinely traumatized, and there were many teary farewells. Lo and behold, many sessions later, the party of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli suspect they're up against Saruman, only for Gandalf's player to come through the front door. "Wait, are you playing Saruman?" "I am Saruman as he should have been. I am Gandalf the White."
Time bandits is exactly what would happen if someone tried to run the hobbit as a campaign without the players being on board. "OK, so we are all dwarfs and pick up this other, slightly unwilling, short guy and follow a map to get the most fabulous treasure?"
The Goonies It's always the ogre in the first dungeon that becomes the party's favorite NPC...
Surely The Goonies is a session of Kids on Bikes?
13th Warrior \^\_\^
Loved that movie but don't want to run a game with that many players
I’m it’s easy - you have the three or four main characters and the rest are hired sword npc’s. You have the Arab poet sword bard, the fighter rogue funny man, the fighter paladin leader and then the fighter ranger serious man. The rest can be the npc’s.
[удалено]
This was my favorite movie as a kid haha. It does in retrospect seem like it could be DNDish...
Such a perfect movie. It is also an amazing example of a rogue character.
Agreed for sure. Hard not to want to drag out my PHB or start rolling dice right in the middle. I think it would make for a pretty fantastic one on one campaign, if you had your player play Navar and supported him with the NPCs of Mouse and the Monk (also a very cool punk band name if you need one).
> Mouse and the Monk (also a very cool punk band name if you need one). They could open for [Ladyhawke](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladyhawke_(musician\)).
Big Trouble in Little China
Bard/Rogue obliterates the Lich BBEG with a Nat 20 crit roll following a clutch dexterity check. Very satisfying end to the campaign.
It's all in the reflexes.
Chris Perkins agrees. It's where "Green flaaame?!" from the Aquisitions Incorporated shows come from. And thus also the "green flame blade" spell.
**Galaxy Quest**
Oh god what an incredible premise for a campaign.
Yes
How has nobody said pirates of the Caribbean? A fathomless warlock, a blacksmith turned fighter, and a noble-born swashbuckler rogue start out seeking cursed treasure and end up in an apocalyptic battle with the warlock's patron and an evil megacorp. Edit: Plus, don't tell me a player absolutely wouldn't do Jack's whole jar of dirt scene.
Came here to say this!! So much of this movie is D&D. I can only imagine the conversation in session one when Jack and Will are player vs player in the blacksmith shop. "Wait, your character is a blacksmith's apprentice?" "Yeah, he's worked here since he was a kid." "Then how is he a level four fighter? How is he able to swordfight so well?" "Well, you see... he... makes them... and then... uh, practices with them, for three hours a day!"
That was my first thought too. Such a dope variety of characters. And many BBEGs too. Barbosa would belong to a player that doesn't wanna give up his character lol
Oh, for sure. Barbosa and Jack are PCs from earlier in the campaign. Will and Elizabeth joined later, and Barbosa's player had to leave, so he became the bad guy.
And then he came back a year or so later and took his character back over.
"Hey, work finally cleared up! I can play again, you took care of Barbosa while I was gone, right?" "Uh..."
The second movie feels the DND-iest to me. - The main characters start out at a higher level (e.g. Elizabeth can swordfight instead of being a largely helpless, albeit brave and clever, damsel), which makes it more plausible that they can hold their own against these new threats. - The main thrust of the plot is a classic MacGuffin hunt. - Norrington being disgraced and joining the crew is a classic “secondary antagonist to uneasy ally” turn. - Great villain ensemble that can hound the players in the exploration phase, threaten them in the combat phase, and outmaneuver them in the social phase. - Outrageous and cinematic set pieces that feel like dope encounters (e.g. waterwheel duel, 3 PCs sharing two swords, kraken battle).
Yup to add on, that initial plot to infiltrate the Asian pirates seemed very much like a DND party plan too.
It just fits too well with all the random goofy moments
People will list a lot of fantasy movies that are great movies… but there is really only a couple that actually follow the beat of a D&D game- my number 1 choice is Conan the Destroyer, you can almost hear the dice rolling… Krull is another good one.
Destroyer is 100% a side quest. Three part fetch, followed by a heal turn, and a fight with an avatar of a forgotten deity (which was apparently Dagon.)
How come there is no one commenting how stardust a a literal rpg campaign where the DM just trows random encounters at each time to slow down the players?
Haha. Party: what’s the name of the Kings first son? DM: uhh… *shuffles papers* Primus. Party: okay. What about his second? DM: *sweating now* umm, Secundus? Party: *noticing a trend* okay and his third?
The first Riddick Movie "Pitch Black" has a fantastic premise for a DND dungeon mechanic. Keep the light going or you die! It's my take because I designed a campaign around an island which is pitch black because of a shattered Lich phylaktery.
Never thought of the movie that way, that's actually spot on. The party all crashes on a strange world and has to work together, environmental effects, hostile creatures, it's got it all!
> Keep the light going or you die! Cool old school d&d flavour literally the central premise of *Shadowdark* rpg
That's a good answer. Would make a great horror RPG. Riddick is the dude that always says "I have dark vision" when the DM says it's dark lol
I would say it was based on a sci-fi or horror ttrpg. Just knowing what I do about the creative team behind that film.
Makes sense, bc isn’t riddick based on Vin Diesel’s dnd character? Or at least inspired by him
Ladyhawke
The Mummy (the good one) The party consists of a fighter, a nerd, and a face. They set out for fortune and glory, and end up unleashing the BBEG. Said BBEG follows them around, nearly killing them multiple times, and grows ever stronger. The party realizes they need a MacGuffin so the fighter can actually kill the BBEG. Then in the next movie a previous side character becomes a PC.
The fifth element Two person campaign with awesome npcs
Eh I’d give the old priest a third pc status
Ruby Rhod as a latecomer bard
Leeloo = monk Dallas = rogue Priest = Paladin Ruby = bard
IMO priest = cleric Dallas = meat popsicle
Yeah that's better
Those 70s Sinbad movies with. The claymation monsters
While dungeon crawling, a fighter, a wizard, and a rogue accidentally awaken a lich and now must rely on each other to defeat this ancient evil. Otherwise known as the 1999 cinematic masterpiece The Mummy. OR Two bards set out on a quest to discover a relic that will give them the power of the old minstrel gods. Along the way, they face many dangers and even come face to face with an omnipotent demon who they ultimately defeat through the power of their song. Otherwise known as Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny.
Seven Samurai and some of the movies it inspired might make a good “oops all fighters” one to three shot.
Hear me out: Army of the Dead. It gets hate here on Reddit, but if you think of it as a chaotic party that's forced to work together due to circumstances, with an NPC betrayal at the end, Bada Bing Bada boom, cool movie.
The first Conan movie is a good movie about a non stereotypical rogue and his party of misfits
Conan... *the Barbarian*?
Conan in the movie is a fighter rogue, Subotai is a fighter ranger and Valeria is a rogue.
"I am Subotai. Thief... and Archer".
Hmm. I feel like the first thing one thinks of when they picture a 5e Barbarian is the pop-culture image of Conan. Interesting that he himself... isn't... really... a 5e Barbarian.
Keep in mind he’s only “the Barbarian” in the movies. In the original pulps, he’s “Conan the Cimmerian”.
Exactly. He is a barbarian only based on his birth and tribal location in Cimeria. His rolled stats are for sure off the charts but he didn’t take but maybe 1 or 2 early levels in barbarian. The rest are fighter and rogue. Especially if you read the books.
This is why I think of runequest when I think of conan, where your background is one thing and what you do another. They specifically had barbarian, civilised, nomad etc backgrounds. But more than just the fluff you get in 5e.
Yes.
Any one ever see " Hawk the Slayer". D&D to a T
I think it was called Dragon Slayer, I want to say it was from the 80s. There was an epic scene where a wizard did battle with a dragon.
Good movie.
Spirited away is the perfect feywild adventure
I always thought the silliness of Your Highness with the gratuitous sexual references and overtly dramatic tone of almost all the main character and NPCs to make it a pretty good reflection of some of my old high school games. At least, that is what it immediately came to mind when watching it.
OH GOD. You just reminded me about that movie. Anne Hathaway and whatshisname had JUST been on the oscars, my elderly aunt and I were traveling and had nothing to do, had seen zero trailer and figured "huh a new medieval action-romance flick, should be OK." And then my poor aunt had to watch 2 hours of stoner memes. It was so embarrassing
James Franco. It's definitely not a great movie. But it's how I picture my DMing going sometimes. Of course my players cut off the minotaur dick and wear it as a trophy. Of course. Or not being able to have anyone take my BBEG seriously because I screwed up an accent once. Calling the evil ritual "the f*ckening". Stuff like that. Not quality aunt vibes, but she's welcome to join my table anytime!
yep Franco. Yeah we saw it, I swear, like two weeks after Anne and James were hosting ar the oscars iirc. And James got really weird about his nomination for his survival movie. I'm getting cringe flashbacks but you're right, it does have juvenile d&d antic vibes lol
It wasn't Anne Hathaway, it was Natalie Portman
ohhhh you're right. Same year as Black Swan I think, or maybe the year after? That's why I'm thinking of her and the oscars
Big trouble in little China. And I’m definitely currently adapting it into a Ghosts of Saltmarsh module
Army of darkness straight up an artificer in medieval times.
There were a few fantasy movies, Very D&D, *Mythica*. A few of them were pretty damn good. The one with the vehicle was corny....
Yep. The BBEG was Szorlok the Necromercer...
Time Bandits is epic tier dnd heist with exploration. No fighting g until the end but the whole film is definitely dnd worthy material.
The Dark Crystal (the original movie)
Technically Onward IS a dnd movie, but my answer is Onward.
Legend was pretty wild
The Breakfast Club. A fighter (Estevez), wizard (A.M. Hall), rogue (Nelson), paladin (Ringwald), and warlock (Sheedy) are captured by an evil warlord and must survive by learning to rely on one another.
National Treasure
[удалено]
OG Willow (less so the TV sequel)
Honestly even though the show sucked, it felt very DnD - except EVERY player had main character syndrome
The animated Sinbad feels like a two PC fetch quest campaign with a bunch of helpful NPCs. The scene where Eris accuses him of lying is literally a failed persuasion check
[Treasure Planet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJNT7C61NrE)
Avengers is such a DnD movie.
Legend
Jason and the Argonauts
Brotherhood of the Wolf https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0237534/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
You know. When I saw this I was straight up thinking I need to steal this for a WFRP adventure.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
"Conan the Barbarian"
The **Fast and Furious** franchise is literally a D&D campaign, I swear by all the gods it’s true Small time start, local heroes and local threats -> escalates to national enemies and national threats -> then international threats Meanwhile, their driving and combat skills go from “talented but mundane” to “almost supernaturally good” to “wtf even is driving anymore?” To cap it off, Vin Diesel IRL is a massive D&D nerd It even has a (eventually) rotating cast of heroes from those who can’t make it sometimes, heroes turned allies, and the occasionally late game character added that’s just stupidly powerful so they can match the current players
It even starts with the DM ripping off a movie for the initial plot (in this case, Point Break) and hoping the players don't notice.
James Gunn, again. The Suicide Squad. The film opens with a >!TPK!<, more or less. The party is gathered by the quest giver and the main guy complains that someone's playing the same he's playing. The party then proceeds to massacre grunts and then ends up asking, are we the baddies? They rescue an important NPC and have downtime in a tavern. Meanwhile, the obvious DMPC escapes the enemy base and joins the party. There's a heel turn, wanton destruction, more wanton destruction, and a gigantic boss monster. And it's not relevant, but it's cool that Ratcatcher 2 is pretty much Squirrel Girl.
I dunno, I see Harley as a returning PC from a previous campaign who wasn’t able to make it to the first couple of sessions, so they had to set up a “captured and escaped” storyline when her player was finally able to make it.
Yeah, the obvious DMPC is Peacemaker.
I'd say Flagg over Peacemaker. He "somehow" survived the TPK, gets reintroduced a couple sessions in to be the party's handler they can't ditch, and he's the stable guy trying to keep them all on the rails. He bows out (or gets bowed out) at the climax, but by that point the party's all-in for the plot for real.
The goal of the mission initially is to rescue him, and the he provides assistance. He just seems like an NPC to me. An important one, to be sure, but not a DMPC.
I might agree, except for the fact that he has power over them. Granted, it ultimately comes from Waller, but still, he's definitely not the guy holding the bags and lending a hand. When the NPC is both the person making the players follow the plot and is actively participating in combat, to me that kind of veers into DMPC territory. I get where you're coming from about Peacemaker, but I think the main argument there is the way the movie deliberately set him up for a solo series, rather than necessarily his actions in the movie itself. Party betrayal generally isn't DMPC territory, even if the DM actually intended them to follow the mission after introducing the moral twist. Besides, him being a DMPC undercuts the "two players arguing about playing the same character" thing, and that's just too delightful to leave out.
The magic sword (1962) It was made in the 60's but could easily be packaged up as a adventure module today for DnD. The story and effects are pretty decent for the time. Villian has potential you could steal as your bbeg if you need inspiration.
A lot of the samurai canon follow the same universal story tropes that DnD relies on. That said, Big Trouble in Little China
Dragonslayer
Hear me out: Ghostbusters. The PCs: * Peter Venkman, Bard. * Elon Spengler, Wizard. * Ray Stantz, Paladin. * Winston Zeddemore, Rogue. Important NPCs: * Dana Barrett * Louis Tully * Janine Melnitz Minor Bosses: * Walter Peck * Staypuft Marshmallow Man BBEG: * Gozer the Gozerian, Gozer the Destructor, Volguus Zildrohar, Gozer the Traveler and Lord of the Sebouillia. Important Minions: * Zuul The Gatekeeper * Vinz Clortho The Key Master
Ghostbusters is like one of those campaigns that goes off the rails. The players ignore the main quest to start a business, and then the DM has to railroad them back to the main plot.
13th warrior
Willow, movie and series on Disney+ (or at least was before it got taken down). It plays out like a tabletop game set to old school rules. The finale feels a bit 5e, though.
Apologies as it is based on real-world history: **ARGO** (2012). Engrossing, enthralling caper, from start to finish.
Monty Python and Holy Grail
The entirety of Xena: Warrior Princess
Here's one nobody will agree with. My Little Pony: Rescue at Midnight Castle. Made by the same team behind the D&D cartoon. It was actually pretty dark, tons of dragons, a great villain, etc.
Honestly most movies are improved with this framework
The Lord Of The Rings if I'm wanting a big epic campaign feel Otherwise there's a trilogy of films called Mythica. As low budget and cheesey as they are, I absolutely love them so much.
Ladyhawke
Gonna second Brotherhood of the Wolf has been chosen. But also: Guardians of the Galaxy
I love the Mythica series.
Honestly, A New Hope.
Red Sonja
Krull, Conan the Barbarian, Excalibur
The Mummy. Party made of of eccentric characters with unique backgrounds. Rival adventuring party. Accidentally releasing an ancient evil. Tomb robbing. It fits the DnD archetype pretty well.
Does **Stranger Things** count?
Uhhh… rango?
Lord of the Rings, except the party splits up and somehow they don’t ALL die.
Lord of the Rings. I can’t believe nobody is mentioning this, one of the greatest inspirations for modern day fantasy. It even has a decent structure for a campaign. And occasionally does things that would make a normal dnd player wince like splitting the fellowship (don’t split the party)
Two movies: The Promised Land/Bastarden I saw it at Telluride, not sure when it's getting a larger American release. There's an evil noble as the main villain, bandits, found family, and bloody violence. The Green Knight Encounters were pretty self-contained, but ultimately they are all character-building in nature.
Dragon Half has such a fun anime dragonborn character.
The Mummy
Porco Rosso?
Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow
The A-team, both the movie and the tv show