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What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Given wizard of the coast are going through the motions of releasing a new edition it got me wondering what would happen if they decide to test the waters with a new d&d cartoon series.
So what would you expect if a new D&D cartoon series was announced and they took the opportunity to use their site and you tube to show clips of their ideas ala the comic series they're currently doing on their website?
Would you want a remake with another group of kids stranded in the Realms or something else?
If you selected a particular setting which one would you like used for a new cartoon series?
Forgotten Realms?
Eberron?
Nentir Vale?
Greyhawk?
Planescape?
Dragonlance?
The original had;
Hank the Rangers,
Shiela the Thief (Illusionist in Brazil i hear),
Diana the Acrobat,
Eric the Cavalier,
Presto the Wizard,
Bobby the Barbarian and of course Uni with the gnome sized Dungeon Master.
After the latest Pax exploits of Acquistions Incorporated where Chris Perkins dressed up as an exceedingly tall DM this got me wondering... who would you want in your cartoon series of a new D&D cartoon?
Note: It DOESN'T have to be a remake, I'm asking what YOU'D like to see.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Eberron would probably be the most interesting for a contemporary cast - robots, trains, magic masquerading as technology (moreso than usual)... it would paint an alien yet eerily familiar backdrop for people used to technology.
For what I'd like to see, I'd almost say something like Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, where a group of kids are thrown into an alien world of violence and adventure. Each of the kids respond differently to the circumstance: one just allows himself to be completely lost in the dream, another wants to enjoy it for as long as she possibly can, while a third enjoys it all but believes they should be looking for a way home - no matter how much his peers may object.
Basically, I'd like a story that really thinks about what it would mean to be cast into that situation - to be given a life of excitement and adventure beyond anything you could have had in your old life, where you can be something more than just another student, just another wage slave. Where it's kill or be killed and every day your life is at risk, where your friends' lives are at risk. Is the joy worth the trauma?
The characters become the point where two worlds collide: real world sensibilities in a fantasy setting. It would be great if they could blend the two, subtly. Anachronistic tactics, attempts to duplicate with magic the comforts they grew up with, genre savvy reactions to events...
I wouldn't want another 80s cartoon, with one-note characters, laugh tracks, and those "Oh, you..." endings where everyone laughs at the comic relief character(s) doing something stupid.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I like Calemyr's idea that its a group of kids thrown into an alien world of adventure... but instead of it taking place on one world, why couldn't they jump from world to world (or Material Plane to Material Plane)?
This way WotC could show kids / potential gamers all the different settings / types of games that D&D is capable of running. One story arc can be in Eberron, the next can be in Ravenloft, the next in Forgotten Realms, etc... and maybe sometimes the party ends up temporarily stuck in the Astral Plane or one of the Outer Planes ("Escape from the Abyss!") or have to journey to one of the Elemental Planes to get an Artifact that may help them get home...
As for the characters, maybe it would be cool to have four main human characters as POV characters for the audience: female Fighter, female Sorcerer, male Rogue, male Bard. These are the four kids trying to get home. I like these four classes for the POV characters because they can be tied into their "normal" background - one kid is a natural fighter, the other naturally has a strong, fiery personality (and is amazed when it turns out that translates into actual magical ability in the D&D universe), the next is naturally sneaky and the last is a natural musician and storyteller (and is equally surprised to find that these abilities tap into magic in the D&D universe).
Along the way they meet up with all different types of races and allies... such as a dwarven cleric of Moradin, an halfling ranger, an elf paladin, a tiefling wizard, etc, some of whom adventure with them for a single story arc, others who join the party for an entire season or more...
As the party "levels up" and grows not only more and more powerful, but also more and more involved in the goings on of the various worlds they visit, they may even contemplate abandoning their quest to get home, and decide to become Champions of the Planes (or perhaps Tyrants of the Planes)...
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
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Originally Posted by
JoeMac307
... but instead of it taking place on one world, why couldn't they jump from world to world (or Material Plane to Material Plane)?
It's a nice idea in theory, but it would be very difficult to build a narrative around it. You'd basically be animating Sliders, where every episode has a different set of rules and balance of power and characters... You wouldn't be able to set anything up, really. Plus, the terrain and art styles would need to change fairly sharply for the settings to really be distinct in any event, which could be rather tough.
I mean, it isn't impossible and it could be quite interesting if done well, albeit it would become far more focused on the main cast (the only constants) than the setting.
That said, I definitely agree with you on keeping the PoV cast down to a minimum, and the ones you suggest would work well. One of the aspects that kind of ruined the old cartoon for me (didn't see much of it, really) was the fact that the PoV cast was a large enough group to support itself and as such never really became part of the world, they just traveled in it like oil through water. Forcing the PoV cast to interact with the setting, to actually create threads connecting them to people outside their little outsider group, would really give the story some depth.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
That Clone Wars cartoon was suprisingly well received and from what fragments I've seen, it looked quite mature. A fantasy version with that attitude might work quite well as well.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Calemyr
It's a nice idea in theory, but it would be very difficult to build a narrative around it. You'd basically be animating Sliders, where every episode has a different set of rules and balance of power and characters... You wouldn't be able to set anything up, really. Plus, the terrain and art styles would need to change fairly sharply for the settings to really be distinct in any event, which could be rather tough.
I mean, it isn't impossible and it could be quite interesting if done well, albeit it would become far more focused on the main cast (the only constants) than the setting.
Perhaps they aren't the only ones hopping from plane to plane? Maybe they aren't even the only characters from Earth trying to get back home? Maybe they are in a race against one or more other groups to find the one McGuffin that will let only one group head back home, stranding the rest in the D&D universe? Maybe there is a villain or evil organizaton that is also searching for the McGuffin for nefarious reasons, and they are constantly clashing?
Adding in some or all of those elements would let you set things up and build a narrative. Also, I agree that they shouldn't hop from plane to plane too frequently... maybe stick with one, maybe two main campaign settings for an entire season, and have them take one or two episode long side treks to Inner and Outer Planes once in a while to liven things up.
It could also lead to difficult decisions... one of the party falls madly in love an "NPC" they've been adventuring with for most of the season, and they now have to choose... do they leave their love behind to help the rest of the party find a way home, or do they abandon the party (and their life on Earth) to stay with the NPC for the rest of their days?
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Just because I'm a little bored at the moment, I wrote up some characters that could serve as the PoV cast:
Spoiler
Show
Sam (Short for Samantha): Fighter. An avid athlete and a bit of a tomboy, Sam enjoys physical solutions to problems. She's not stupid, mind you - in fact she displays quite a bit of intelligence in how she fight - but she prefers to play to her strength, and that is, well, her strength. She tends to act on impulse more than the others and does not back down even when outclassed. Probably the happiest to be in the game, because there she can be who she wants to be rather than what everyone expects her to be.
Lisa: Sorceress. A shy, gentle soul with a surplus of empathy, Lisa feels there must have been some sort of mistake in attaining her class. Instead of becoming something passive or supportive, like a cleric or a druid or even a ranger, the powers she realizes are aggressive and destructive and drawn from passion and raw bloody-minded will. What disturbs her even more is how good she is at it - she is a fearsome force of nature when riled and often horrified by the aftermath of her own wrath. She's the one who wants to leave the most and will jump at any chance to do so, not so much because she's scared of danger, but because she's terrified that this might be who she truly is.
Curtis: Rogue. How best to describe Curtis? He never does things the normal way. Probably the most intellectual of the four, Curtis never attacks things head on, always trying to out-manuever obstacles and achieve the most impact while using the least effort. Curtis is very non-confrontational, preferring people to never even know he's there, and can be particularly timid in a straight up fight, but if allowed to do things his way he is quite reliable - albeit unpredictable. Curtis doesn't dislike being in the game, but does worry how his mother is faring without him around.
RJ: Bard. RJ has not had an easy life. Raised in a particularly dysfunctional family in an unpleasant corner of town, he skates through his days on well-honed people skills to keep himself out of trouble at home, in school, and especially in the neighborhood. A born actor, he slips between roles fluidly to fit in with whatever crowd he falls into and can play people like a harp. What few people realise is that RJ has a gift for tactical thought and enjoys games like chess, though he hides this to protect his image. RJ dreams of being something more than he is, but doesn't really believe it to be possible. Of the four, RJ displays the least opinion of being in the game, as he has a fatalistic belief that he'll never be able to escape his old life for long.
I don't know. Would that be an interesting lead cast?
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Calemyr
Just because I'm a little bored at the moment, I wrote up some characters that could serve as the PoV cast:
Spoiler
Show
Sam (Short for Samantha): Fighter. An avid athlete and a bit of a tomboy, Sam enjoys physical solutions to problems. She's not stupid, mind you - in fact she displays quite a bit of intelligence in how she fight - but she prefers to play to her strength, and that is, well, her strength. She tends to act on impulse more than the others and does not back down even when outclassed. Probably the happiest to be in the game, because there she can be who she wants to be rather than what everyone expects her to be.
Lisa: Sorceress. A shy, gentle soul with a surplus of empathy, Lisa feels there must have been some sort of mistake in attaining her class. Instead of becoming something passive or supportive, like a cleric or a druid or even a ranger, the powers she realizes are aggressive and destructive and drawn from passion and raw bloody-minded will. What disturbs her even more is how good she is at it - she is a fearsome force of nature when riled and often horrified by the aftermath of her own wrath. She's the one who wants to leave the most and will jump at any chance to do so, not so much because she's scared of danger, but because she's terrified that this might be who she truly is.
Curtis: Rogue. How best to describe Curtis? He never does things the normal way. Probably the most intellectual of the four, Curtis never attacks things head on, always trying to out-manuever obstacles and achieve the most impact while using the least effort. Curtis is very non-confrontational, preferring people to never even know he's there, and can be particularly timid in a straight up fight, but if allowed to do things his way he is quite reliable - albeit unpredictable. Curtis doesn't dislike being in the game, but does worry how his mother is faring without him around.
RJ: Bard. RJ has not had an easy life. Raised in a particularly dysfunctional family in an unpleasant corner of town, he skates through his days on well-honed people skills to keep himself out of trouble at home, in school, and especially in the neighborhood. A born actor, he slips between roles fluidly to fit in with whatever crowd he falls into and can play people like a harp. What few people realise is that RJ has a gift for tactical thought and enjoys games like chess, though he hides this to protect his image. RJ dreams of being something more than he is, but doesn't really believe it to be possible. Of the four, RJ displays the least opinion of being in the game, as he has a fatalistic belief that he'll never be able to escape his old life for long.
I don't know. Would that be an interesting lead cast?
That would be awesome.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I agree. I particularly like Lisa, but all four characters seem fresh, relatable, and have a good balance of embracing and subverting established tropes.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Personally I really don’t like the idea of a group being transported into a fantasy world. D&D already did that. Why recycle the same old concept? They don’t write their books that way, why do it for a TV show?
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
My feel is that it would help an audience member relate to the characters more, and that it is kind of the feel of what an RPG is all about (transporting yourself to a fantasy world)
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I would want Eberron (since Spelljammer is probably off the table due to its narmyness).
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
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Originally Posted by
Tal_Akaan
Personally I really don’t like the idea of a group being transported into a fantasy world. D&D already did that. Why recycle the same old concept? They don’t write their books that way, why do it for a TV show?
Two reasons:
1) Everything old is new again. We've had new ghostbusters, new He Man, new GI Joe, new... everything. Resurrecting the old ideas with a modern perspective has been working for them so far.
2) Ignoring the real-world aspect of the game (or at least the peculiarities of the rules) reduces D&D stories to mere generic fantasy with a few consistent elements. It's the interplay between real world mentality and fantasy world setting that makes the concept so intriguing.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I agree with not trasporting the players to the world. I like the way it was handled in "Gamers: Dorkness Rising." I wouldn't mind seeing a Animated show, or a live action show done in this manner. It would DEFINATLY have to be made By Geeks though. Whenever the suits try make shows like this it...just no.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
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Originally Posted by
JoeMac307
Perhaps they aren't the only ones hopping from plane to plane? Maybe they aren't even the only characters from Earth trying to get back home?
I had a mad idea for some fan-fic about the old D&D show.
Turns out that Dungeon Master has been trying this 'arm a bunch of earth kids, send them against the evils of the land and hope for the best' thing for quite some time...
Our heroes eventually discover the remains of some of the last nine groups (all killed in various gruesome ways while on one of D.M.s little fetch quests), and then run into the only other extant band of earthings - who've gone rogue and are now using their magical weapons to brutally rule their own little fiefdom...
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I'm normally one of the most vocal critics (when the opportunity arises) of the old "white man conquer aborigine land" story trope, of which the AD&D cartoon is a form of.
But in this cartoon's case, I agree that the trope's use is fitting, is not insulting, and makes it unique from Conan/He-man type cartoons.
I also agree that it's a good idea for the core cast to jump worlds between each season. But not between every few episodes, that would be too fast.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I'd prefer it to be a specific D&D setting rather than 'D&D'.
Eberron: The Animated Series intrigues me a lot, and I liked Dragonlance universe for fiction, if not as a role playing world.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I wouldn't mind seeing an animated version of some of the more modern D&D comics,
Although, if I had creative freedom over the matter and was interested in creating something new. I think I would take my cues from Black Rock Shooter, the game/anime/manga or I suppose -- the movie Wizard of Oz.
Mirror the dramatic real-world trials and tribulations of young adults with fantasy-world counterparts. Whether it's the teenagers who are dreaming of themselves as adventurers or adventurers who are having dreams of being mundane high school students is left to speculation. Either can be considered the abstract representation of the other's persona. Adding, I think, poignancy to their choices in both realities and what form their antagonists take.
Anyways,
I would attempt to devise a setting specific to the show, you're telling the story of the protagonists primarily. Sort of like Adventure Time, leaving most of the world undefined is a far more reasonable in a comic or cartoon.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I would model the show on something like Avatar, the Clone Wars or Naruto, rather than the old D&D cartoon (which I never liked, even as a child). I very particularly dislike the tired old cliche of bringing characters from Earth - I'd go as far as saying, if you're really insistant on going to do that, DON'T have them coming from America or Japan (or Europe, to a lesser extent), pick somewhere totally different and maybe a bit obscure for a change, and let them have a bit of limelight for a change. ("Relatability" as pertains to "what The Networks in particular think is 'relatable'" can go die in a fire... Good shows have characters that are relatable, regardless of age or species.)
And make the language barrier matter, too, not just have everyone convieniantly speaking English which equals Common (have them speaking English (or viewing language as appropriate) as translated to the viewer, yes), make them work for it a bit.
But better yet, just don't start with humans native to Earth, just use the same level of creativity displayed by a lot of fantasy writers, who write about young characters (also see aforementioned Naruto/Avatar etc etc). It wouldn't be difficult to kick of the show and the myth arc by creating a situation which forces a group of young people (heck, they don't even have to be children, really - or all humans, for that matter) into forming an adventuring party, with the goal of solving whatever the myth arc is. (Shows with a continiguous storyline are generally better than those without, and you still have plenty of wriggle room for writing what you like in between.) Plus, of course, like all good DMs, there's always another, bigger bad guy if you knobble that last one, because D&D.
(Heck, I might even go as far as suggesting you see the Big Bad in the first episode, and not again until season two or three.)
In any case, I'd follow the maturity level of Clone Wars or Naruto, and have people, y'know, get injured and die. (CW manages to do it quite brutally onscreen because they don't have to have blood; while with swords it might be harder, you could manage it other ways, or just resign yourself that - for once - it's not going to be for children, and pitch it for the 12A audience that, y'know, the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit films were/are.)
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
The thing is, as has been said, if you don't do the "Earth kids in a strange land" theme... then this cartoon is no different from all the other cartoons which takes place in its own self-contained universe. We already have ATLA, Naruto, and Record of Lodoss War. What does D&D bring to the table that is unique? Answer: Being D&D, a game world navigated by genre-savvy players.
Plenty of anime do this too, and they reap the benefit of the trope.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
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Originally Posted by
MLai
The thing is, as has been said, if you don't do the "Earth kids in a strange land" theme... then this cartoon is no different from all the other cartoons which takes place in its own self-contained universe. We already have ATLA, Naruto, and Record of Lodoss War. What does D&D bring to the table that is unique? Answer: Being D&D, a game world navigated by genre-savvy players.
Plenty of anime do this too, and they reap the benefit of the trope.
The counter to that is the question, what it is bringing to the table that's different from all the dozens of other cartoons/anime that also do the "Earth kids in a strange land?" (Including it's own forerunner?) Which happens more often than the reverse...
I have always found - even as a child - the whole "Earth people in a strange land" to be somewhat poor excuse for creativity (because it takes less effort to crowbar in Earth characters than actually come up with fresh characters a fresh culture that doesn't rely on pop-culture dialogue (of the time period in question)) and often, at worst with "children's" entertainment, what some suit thinks all the cool kids will be "into" ;and most damning of all, immersion breaking (along with the tacit admission that "Earth" is the only important place, because the Strange Lands can't themselves deal with their own problems without outside help).
So, yeah, if you're going to do it, then okay, but at least give it really fresh angle. Like I say, don't use Americans/Europeans/Japanese, and/or maybe, don't even use contempories. (I dunno, use Aztecs or Romans or, say, 13th century Chinese or something.)
Actually, the more I think about it, the latter would be by far the better option, period. Have a crowd of, say, Ancient Egyptian children/young people or something, and have them gaze in awe at the wonders of The Future as your POV characters. (Romans would be a good one, too, because there would be somethings that would be amazing to them, and others that would be primitive.) Now THAT would be different and creative.
(Plus, adding a bit of history into the entertainment wouldn't go amiss, now would it?)
Edit: In fact, it occurs that the other advantage is, if you set it up right, the Earth people would not need to have the desire to return home to their families (the Romans come from Pompeii - perhaps the eruption was caused BY the BBEG in his attempt to conquer a new world, or from the fall of the First Empire in Egypt or something), and the story can be about something other than their attempts to get home. Which a) has already been done, b) runs the risk of giving you either an Endless Quest (dull) or a strict cap on the length when the goal is achieved (with potential dubious undoing of the end when it's decided to do One More Season/the Movie.) It'd give you a more open-ended myth arc, because it wouldn't have to end with "beat BBEG."
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
An Egyptian feeling culture-shock over the existence of medieval technology and social structures may be interesting if handled by someone who did their homework, but the concept doesn't play itself out very well considering we (the general viewing audience, at least) know next to nothing of the context from which this person is perceiving everything. Furthermore, older than feudalism morality and perspectives would not lend themselves to a D&D setting. You'd more likely get a cardboard cut-out figure, or someone who's utterly unsympathetic or completely incomprehensible.
I think, as has been suggested, what would be different about a D&D cartoon from others is an intelligent self-awareness of fantasy conventions by it participants.
Although...
If we accept that argument of trying to be the non-Narnia, it might be preferable to have the protagonists come from some future society. Possibly providing an SF hand-wave as to how they got stuck into a fantasy reality to begin with. It would profit from a sense of demystification, alienation from modern perspectives and technologies, and the aforementioned implicit awareness of fantasy tropes.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Or have it set in the future where the remaints of the technology we take for granted are held with an almost reverent fascination by the residents of the time maybe even misunderstood.
Could even have the main characters not realise they aren't the first to travel to this world and meet up with other survivors some good, some bad and so on.
Think Wizards & Warriors but with a D&D spin.
The "monsters" are either mutated or in the cases of humanoids actually mutated offshoots of humanity with elves living in forests, dwarves under mountains, halflings farmers with burrows, gnomes live under hills and humans living above ground unaware that rather than being the weakest of the races they're actually what every other race evolved from.
Well except the animal evolved ones!:smallbiggrin:
Could even have new deities such as Marlon Brando, Gary Gygax, Godzilla/Gojira but don't go anywhere near Twilight please!!!!
Imagine if the society evolved from reading the works of JR Tolkien?!:smalltongue:
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kitten Champion
An Egyptian feeling culture-shock over the existence of medieval technology and social structures may be interesting if handled by someone who did their homework, but the concept doesn't play itself out very well considering we (the general viewing audience, at least) know next to nothing of the context from which this person is perceiving everything. Furthermore, older than feudalism morality and perspectives would not lend themselves to a D&D setting. You'd more likely get a cardboard cut-out figure, or someone who's utterly unsympathetic or completely incomprehensible.
Well, no, not really. How is it any different to a self-contained world? Avatar/ the Hobbit (etc) managed perfectly fine when having the POV character from a culture we knew nothing about (the former even better than the latter). It can be done perfectly fine and understandably, because it has been.
(And as the morality, that's why you'd have a younger crowd - with more flexible outlooks - because, well, learning that there are different ways would give said characters some more interesting character development to go through than just gape in awe/save the day (because their culture makes them better at solving the problems of foreign cultures than the foreign cultures are...) or the usual Disney-family-based aesops.)
I just really dislike the idea of cutting and pasting modern (western, if we're specifically talking about D&D-genera-savvy player-insert) characters into, well, anything that isn't modern. There have been very, very few things that have attempted this and not come off as forced (Farscape, maybe) or gimmicky.
Hell, that's not even how we (i.e. collectively modally) even PLAY D&D, is it? Surely a D&D cartoon should best reflect what WE, the D&D players, mostly commonly do in a game, through our characters. (Who are, largely, not transplanted characters from 21st century Earth.) I mean, show of hands: how many of you would be comfortable in one guy insisting on having his a character someone that was from 21st century Earth in your, I dunno, Eberron or Realms game? Yes, I'm well aware that some of you might (but more than once? Even if the characters were well-played and totally different each time?), but by far from all of the community, I think (I won't presume to even hazard a guess as to the split). I think the same principle applies here.
It just feels... wrong to me. As wrong as having a Jedi in a Stargate SG-1 game, or I dunno, a random Saiyan in Mass Effect or something.
(Heck OotS itself, if you toned back a bit on some of the forth-wall humour, would be perfectly capable of illustrating genera savvy through its own internal characters without having external characters show up from some other world.)
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
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Originally Posted by
Hopeless
I'm asking what YOU'D like to see.
But the thread title asks what we'd expect, not what we'd like to see.
If it's what we'd expect, I'd expect it to suck, to be honest.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Of that I am actually completely sure.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
@those who say that bringing in people from modern Earth would be lazy:
You know, some people actually LIKE "fish out of water" stories wherein the main character(s) are transplanted from their home world to the primary world of the story. It's not necessarily lazy writing, and it can be done very well. You might not like it, but hey, some people don't like fantasy at all. Some people don't like sci-fi. Some people don't like fiction, period. So... ymmv depending on your tastes.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Senator Cybus
I had a mad idea for some fan-fic about the old D&D show.
Turns out that Dungeon Master has been trying this 'arm a bunch of earth kids, send them against the evils of the land and hope for the best' thing for quite some time...
Our heroes eventually discover the remains of some of the last nine groups (all killed in various gruesome ways while on one of D.M.s little fetch quests), and then run into the only other extant band of earthings - who've gone rogue and are now using their magical weapons to brutally rule their own little fiefdom...
TAKE MY MONEY!
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aotrs Commander
Well, no, not really. How is it any different to a self-contained world? Avatar/ the Hobbit (etc) managed perfectly fine when having the POV character from a culture we knew nothing about (the former even better than the latter). It can be done perfectly fine and understandably, because it has been.
But, Egypt and Rome aren't fantasy societies. Neither the Avatar or Halflings are alien to their world. They were both fish-out-of-water stories to a degree, but nothing so much as you're purposing. A character from an imaginary society can have whatever worldview you wish to give it, of course it would be consistent with everything else you've imagined so long as you maintain Aristotelian continuity. When you specify an actual historical event or society -- you've got homework to do -- which most of us aren't interested in doing for a mere D&D cartoon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aotrs Commander
(And as the morality, that's why you'd have a younger crowd - with more flexible outlooks - because, well, learning that there are different ways would give said characters some more interesting character development to go through than just gape in awe/save the day (because their culture makes them better at solving the problems of foreign cultures than the foreign cultures are...) or the usual Disney-family-based aesops.)
A) It's a D&D cartoon were speculating about, which has a strict objective sense of morality based on modern humanist paradigms.
B) Flexibility is fine, but antiquated societies hold views and assumptions which are reprehensible and irrational by most contemporary definitions. Things like moral relativism and a globalized society are reasonably new, even by modern standards. "Flexibility" of thought is far less likely of individuals from most of history, More likely, you'd experience far more moral dissonance as they bring their own prejudices and ignorance to the surface. This is assuming people know how to write such a character in the first place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aotrs Commander
I just really dislike the idea of cutting and pasting modern (western, if we're specifically talking about D&D-genera-savvy player-insert) characters into, well, anything that isn't modern. There have been very, very few things that have attempted this and not come off as forced (Farscape, maybe) or gimmicky.
It can be done, The Twelve Kingdoms, Vision of Escaflowne, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Brave Story, to mention a few anime -- but there are more bad than good as with any genera or trope. It all depends on the writing. The first D&D cartoon was absolutely horrendous in actually portraying D&D in it's complexity and was universally annoying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aotrs Commander
Hell, that's not even how we (i.e. collectively modally) even PLAY D&D, is it? Surely a D&D cartoon should best reflect what WE, the D&D players, mostly commonly do in a game, through our characters. (Who are, largely, not transplanted characters from 21st century Earth.) I mean, show of hands: how many of you would be comfortable in one guy insisting on having his a character someone that was from 21st century Earth in your, I dunno, Eberron or Realms game? Yes, I'm well aware that some of you might (but more than once? Even if the characters were well-played and totally different each time?), but by far from all of the community, I think (I won't presume to even hazard a guess as to the split). I think the same principle applies here.
It just feels... wrong to me. As wrong as having a Jedi in a Stargate SG-1 game, or I dunno, a random Saiyan in Mass Effect or something.
(Heck OotS itself, if you toned back a bit on some of the forth-wall humour, would be perfectly capable of illustrating genera savvy through its own internal characters without having external characters show up from some other world.)
The closest thing to a modern D&D cartoon we have is Adventure Time, it's genera saavy, modern and funny in the absurd range -- or on the other hand the animated movie that came out for Dragon Age II, which falls somewhere in the grimdark gore-fest range. I think something in between the two could be interesting.
I suggested before, that rather than supplanting the characters from their modern setting, or simply having a nominal generic fantasy setting and calling it D&D -- the two worlds exists side-by-side, each seen as a dream world to the other. Characters who's basic persona is reborn each night as a symbol of their idealized form of power -- a ranger, fighter, mage, rogue, cleric and so on -- who undertake quests and combat problems which have an underlying subtext derived from events in the "real world". Their fantasy counterparts are not, however, from the 21st century.
If you want an example of what I mean, Micheal Moorcock's concept of cosmic twins/doppelgangers who represent the same essence in infinite realities -- fighting the same basic battle in countless forms.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
I suggested before, that rather than supplanting the characters from their modern setting, or simply having a nominal generic fantasy setting and calling it D&D -- the two worlds exists side-by-side, each seen as a dream world to the other. Characters who's basic persona is reborn each night as a symbol of their idealized form of power -- a ranger, fighter, mage, rogue, cleric and so on -- who undertake quests and combat problems which have an underlying subtext derived from events in the "real world". Their fantasy counterparts are not, however, from the 21st century.
I really like this idea; the idea that they're not permanently stuck in the D&D world, but merely "dream" it each night. It's been done before: .HACK, Accel World, Sword Art Online....
I like the idea because with this angle, conflicts between characters in the "game world" carry over into the real world. Teenagers who are real-life friends or at least classmates can become opposing sides in the game world. I don't want over-the-top shonen rivalries, though. I want realistic reasons why kids can become enemies in another world. Off the top of my head:
(1) "Dude, lighten up. Who cares what happens to them? It's only a game/dream/not-Earth!"
(2) The flip side where a kid with an intense worldview (Anonymous, for example) finally finds an outlet in the D&D world, and as a result comes into conflict with his classmates who have more conventional moral scales.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MLai
I really like this idea; the idea that they're not permanently stuck in the D&D world, but merely "dream" it each night. It's been done before: .HACK, Accel World, Sword Art Online....
I like the idea because with this angle, conflicts between characters in the "game world" carry over into the real world. Teenagers who are real-life friends or at least classmates can become opposing sides in the game world. I don't want over-the-top shonen rivalries, though. I want realistic reasons why kids can become enemies in another world. Off the top of my head:
(1) "Dude, lighten up. Who cares what happens to them? It's only a game/dream/not-Earth!"
(2) The flip side where a kid with an intense worldview (Anonymous, for example) finally finds an outlet in the D&D world, and as a result comes into conflict with his classmates who have more conventional moral scales.
The issue I with that is D&D isn't an MMO -- what distinguishes D&D is that you became a dramatis personae for the time you're role playing -- not merely You the Fighter or You the Wizard, but the person behind those skills who has a personal reason to face danger and death. That character is still you, a part of you went into it and you become the animating force behind it, but it's not You.
My idea would give the Ranger a real life of his/her own, his own memories and place in his/her setting. To him/her, the dreams of our modern Earth are vague and wondrous in their own right. He/She is a different person there, surrounded by things not imagined in their world. Of course, from the perspective of the Earth-self, it's much the same. Both selves share the same disbelief in each other's reality, but thoughts, images, and emotions bleed through. Eventually our cast of characters would realize they're having the same reoccurring dreams in this fantasy world/real world, which would be troubling or reassuring depending on your viewpoint. As the story progresses they and their parallel selves become more akin to one another, less able to discern between their lives and the lives of their doppelganger. Eventually finding some entity like the Dungeon Master pulling strings behind everything for some grand cosmic reason.
At least that's what I had in mind. There are a lot of ways this can be done without falling perilously into cliche, while still capturing the spirit of D&D that keeps attracting people to it even in the age of video and computer games, I think. You simply need subtlety and some imagination.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kitten Champion
The issue I with that is D&D isn't an MMO -- what distinguishes D&D is that you became a dramatis personae for the time you're role playing -- not merely You the Fighter or You the Wizard, but the person behind those skills who has a personal reason to face danger and death. That character is still you, a part of you went into it and you become the animating force behind it, but it's not You.
My idea would give the Ranger a real life of his/her own, his own memories and place in his/her setting. To him/her, the dreams of our modern Earth are vague and wondrous in their own right. He/She is a different person there, surrounded by things not imagined in their world. Of course, from the perspective of the Earth-self, it's much the same. Both selves share the same disbelief in each other's reality, but thoughts, images, and emotions bleed through. Eventually our cast of characters would realize they're having the same reoccurring dreams in this fantasy world/real world, which would be troubling or reassuring depending on your viewpoint. As the story progresses they and their parallel selves become more akin to one another, less able to discern between their lives and the lives of their doppelganger. Eventually finding some entity like the Dungeon Master pulling strings behind everything for some grand cosmic reason.
At least that's what I had in mind. There are a lot of ways this can be done without falling perilously into cliche, while still capturing the spirit of D&D that keeps attracting people to it even in the age of video and computer games, I think. You simply need subtlety and some imagination.
This would be 1) really hard to pull off well (mostly because of the difficulty of conveying it to the audience - it would be easier to do in a book than in a show) and 2) freakin' awesome. I had a similar idea based around this concept with a single person a while ago when I was just brainstorming story concepts.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
A talk about DnD cartoons and nobody mentioned
Korgoth of Barbaria?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYJ8G_ou6Dc
I would so like to see that pilot episode as a full blown series.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Calemyr
Just because I'm a little bored at the moment, I wrote up some characters that could serve as the PoV cast:
Spoiler
Show
Sam (Short for Samantha): Fighter. An avid athlete and a bit of a tomboy, Sam enjoys physical solutions to problems. She's not stupid, mind you - in fact she displays quite a bit of intelligence in how she fight - but she prefers to play to her strength, and that is, well, her strength. She tends to act on impulse more than the others and does not back down even when outclassed. Probably the happiest to be in the game, because there she can be who she wants to be rather than what everyone expects her to be.
Lisa: Sorceress. A shy, gentle soul with a surplus of empathy, Lisa feels there must have been some sort of mistake in attaining her class. Instead of becoming something passive or supportive, like a cleric or a druid or even a ranger, the powers she realizes are aggressive and destructive and drawn from passion and raw bloody-minded will. What disturbs her even more is how good she is at it - she is a fearsome force of nature when riled and often horrified by the aftermath of her own wrath. She's the one who wants to leave the most and will jump at any chance to do so, not so much because she's scared of danger, but because she's terrified that this might be who she truly is.
Curtis: Rogue. How best to describe Curtis? He never does things the normal way. Probably the most intellectual of the four, Curtis never attacks things head on, always trying to out-maneuver obstacles and achieve the most impact while using the least effort. Curtis is very non-confrontational, preferring people to never even know he's there, and can be particularly timid in a straight up fight, but if allowed to do things his way he is quite reliable - albeit unpredictable. Curtis doesn't dislike being in the game, but does worry how his mother is faring without him around.
RJ: Bard. RJ has not had an easy life. Raised in a particularly dysfunctional family in an unpleasant corner of town, he skates through his days on well-honed people skills to keep himself out of trouble at home, in school, and especially in the neighborhood. A born actor, he slips between roles fluidly to fit in with whatever crowd he falls into and can play people like a harp. What few people realize is that RJ has a gift for tactical thought and enjoys games like chess, though he hides this to protect his image. RJ dreams of being something more than he is, but doesn't really believe it to be possible. Of the four, RJ displays the least opinion of being in the game, as he has a fatalistic belief that he'll never be able to escape his old life for long.
I don't know. Would that be an interesting lead cast?
I love this idea, but then again I'm a big fan of (well done) fish out of water plots. I also like Kitten Champion's idea for the Moorcock-esque dreams of the other self. I like the 'multiple characters as one person' thing in his stories.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Why would you want a new D&D cartoon? We already have Adventure Time, and that's practically D&D.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I'd personally love something set in Eberron, or at least a new setting that draws heavily from Eberron. I'd also like the look of the series to be hand-drawn, kinda like the pretty good ThunderCats reboot that ended this year.
As for the tone, I'd like it to be kind of like IDW's Dungeons and Dragons ongoing - lots of action, a good plot, and more than a bit of snarky humor. Of course, the resident caster would dress a bit more modestly than Tisha, which I'd actually like - someone as squishy as a wizard dressing in anything that exposes the collarbone or anything below it is basically saying "LOOK AT ME! I'M A WALKING PINCUSHION FOR ARROWS!"
Since Hasbro'd be involved with producing it, I'd expect to see it on the Hub and to be rated TV-PG-V at the most. I wouldn't object to a TV-PG rating - Cartoon Network's PG-rated action shows are usually pretty good these days, and it'd be nice to see a D&D series that isn't trying as hard to be mature as it usually is these days. Just... No baby unicorns, please. And maybe use characters that aren't from "our world" - the D&D cartoon is probably one of the better 80's toons out there, since there was more continuity and it dealt with heavier themes, but I'd rather see "natives" to the setting as protagonists so we could have multiple races - I would love to see a D&D cartoon with an elf and a dwarf trading insults like Dinobot and Rattrap did in Beast Wars. If a new series could do that with writing and animation quality on par with, say, Young Justice, Avatar (both series, even though Korra had problems with the romance subplots) or Clone Wars, I'd watch it religiously :D
@DR. Epic: Well, a more action/adventure D&D cartoon would be nice. Adventure Time's one of my favorite cartoons, but I really want to see another fantasy cartoon on the air since ThunderCats went belly-up.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
The LOBster
Just... No baby unicorns, please.
You know there would be a baby unicorn. There's no preventing it.
And you know you'd like it, too.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Calemyr
Just because I'm a little bored at the moment, I wrote up some characters that could serve as the PoV cast:
Spoiler
Show
Sam (Short for Samantha): Fighter. An avid athlete and a bit of a tomboy, Sam enjoys physical solutions to problems. She's not stupid, mind you - in fact she displays quite a bit of intelligence in how she fight - but she prefers to play to her strength, and that is, well, her strength. She tends to act on impulse more than the others and does not back down even when outclassed. Probably the happiest to be in the game, because there she can be who she wants to be rather than what everyone expects her to be.
Lisa: Sorceress. A shy, gentle soul with a surplus of empathy, Lisa feels there must have been some sort of mistake in attaining her class. Instead of becoming something passive or supportive, like a cleric or a druid or even a ranger, the powers she realizes are aggressive and destructive and drawn from passion and raw bloody-minded will. What disturbs her even more is how good she is at it - she is a fearsome force of nature when riled and often horrified by the aftermath of her own wrath. She's the one who wants to leave the most and will jump at any chance to do so, not so much because she's scared of danger, but because she's terrified that this might be who she truly is.
Curtis: Rogue. How best to describe Curtis? He never does things the normal way. Probably the most intellectual of the four, Curtis never attacks things head on, always trying to out-manuever obstacles and achieve the most impact while using the least effort. Curtis is very non-confrontational, preferring people to never even know he's there, and can be particularly timid in a straight up fight, but if allowed to do things his way he is quite reliable - albeit unpredictable. Curtis doesn't dislike being in the game, but does worry how his mother is faring without him around.
RJ: Bard. RJ has not had an easy life. Raised in a particularly dysfunctional family in an unpleasant corner of town, he skates through his days on well-honed people skills to keep himself out of trouble at home, in school, and especially in the neighborhood. A born actor, he slips between roles fluidly to fit in with whatever crowd he falls into and can play people like a harp. What few people realise is that RJ has a gift for tactical thought and enjoys games like chess, though he hides this to protect his image. RJ dreams of being something more than he is, but doesn't really believe it to be possible. Of the four, RJ displays the least opinion of being in the game, as he has a fatalistic belief that he'll never be able to escape his old life for long.
I don't know. Would that be an interesting lead cast?
I want this cast. I can already see having a field day with them, particularly in a setting were there getting to jump from setting to setting and plane of existence to plane of existence.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MLai
You know there would be a baby unicorn. There's no preventing it.
And you know you'd like it, too.
If they bothered to remember that unicorns are sentient creatures capable of speech and healing magic (which would actually be quite useful), I don't see why they couldn't have a young one as a character.
A character, with her proper name, not a glorifed pet.
(One that, given how fast horses develop, could "grow up" as the characters "levelled up" and keep parity, and then multiclass into, I dunno, Paladin or Druid or something.)
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aotrs Commander
If they bothered to remember that
(One that, given how fast horses develop, could "grow up" as the characters "levelled up" and keep parity, and then multiclass into, I dunno, Paladin or Druid or something.)
Or Princess!
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MLai
Or Princess!
I suddenly love the idea of a unicorn character who is a multy class Paladin/Druid/Some-manner of Gish/Thurgue of the two that's a new 5e thing hanging with the group described in the last post I quoted, only to have them discover later down the road (Pun NOT intended.), that she's her people's princess!
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Metahuman1
I suddenly love the idea of a unicorn character who is a multy class Paladin/Druid/Some-manner of Gish/Thurgue of the two that's a new 5e thing hanging with the group described in the last post I quoted, only to have them discover later down the road (Pun NOT intended.), that she's her people's princess!
I was - for once - not even thinking of MLP! I was thinking more along the lines of something in my own campaign world, that I did well before MLP showed on the horizon, where I've chucked the 3.5 bestiary out of the window and re-imagined stuff from mythological sources; there, unicorns were a step up even from D&D unicorns, being basically Shire-horse-shaped paladins with a +3 magic longsword duct taped to thier skulls...! (About as opposite from "little" unicorn ponies as you could get!)
One of the PCs in one of the parties I run is one of those unicorns (a dragon shaman, as it happens), with a ring of jumping. When she uses leap attack, with her jump skill (all those movement-related bonuses), she makes like, 50-60' or something daft and the enemy tends to not so much die, as splash...!
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I'll probably write up something like Calemyr did. I'm using my four favorite created characters, and I'll also expand on the world they live in.
Characters:
Spoiler
Show
Locke: Locke is a Human Fighter (Warblade in 3.5, but whatever) hailing from the Western Colonies. A young man of about twenty-three with strong convictions and a strong spirit, he's surprisingly smart for someone who magic-using foes like to belittle as a "puny-minded warrior." His main flaw is that he's a bit of a hot shot - while he's hardly stupid, he tends to get the party into new quests by accepting quests that no sane adventurer would accept. He looks visibly Native American - not stereotypically so, but he has notably tanner skin than most humans he encounters. Armed with a greatsword, he fights on to protect those weaker than him. You could sum up his personality with the statement "Sometimes, crazy works."
Kaya: Kaya is a Shifter Rogue (resembling this
sketch of a Shifter by Jrinaldi, which also sums up the style I'd like to see used - not realistic, but not very cartoony, either). Unlike most Rogues, she prefers the adrenaline rush from evading traps and sneaking by enemies over the material gains. She's hot-headed and clever, but naturally suspicious of others - she can be brutally honest. About twenty-three years of age, she and Locke are childhood friends. She normally uses a pair of wheellock pistols, and keeps a few bombs on her person at all times. She has a love for technology, in fact. She's also the most genre-savvy of the party.
Scops: Scops is a rather nervous Raptoran Ranger - A former bounty hunter, Scops constantly found himself never quite getting his bounty. He tends to be a bit pessimistic and argumentative, but is by far the cleverest of the adventuring party when it comes to magic. He's often said that he wishes he was a Skypledged, but unfortunately, he was exiled from his rookery after spectacularly failing the Walk of the Four Winds. He's also afraid of heights - maybe he actually is cursed. He uses a footbow that can also double as a standard longbow in closed spaces.
Ferrus Pax is a large, ancient Warforged Monk - as a matter of fact, he's about the size of the average Goliath. A sturdy, powerful warrior, he's physically built like a tank, and while he moves far slower than other Monks, he makes up for it in defenses and power. After an orphaned Kaya awakened him when she was a young girl, he took her in as his adopted daughter. He's constantly trying to adjust to the world after his centuries-long hibernation, and while smart, stoic and wise, he tends to be easily flustered due to a combination of culture shock and his "daughter's" reckless, thrill-seeking attitude. He would much rather live a peaceful, monastic lifestyle like he did before the hibernation, but unfortunately, he's had no such luck.
The world they live in cribs liberally from the most iconic aspects of other settings - mostly Eberron, particularly when it comes to tech. The main Big Bads of the setting are the Church of Varus (an all-human church that persecutes non-humans), a version of the Lord of Blades (a renegade Warforged who leads a cult of personality centered on subjugating squishies - a far cry from the peaceful, monastic lifestyle most Warforged chose to live), the various Demon Lords, and the Drow. The tone of the show would be similar to the Thundercats reboot, albeit without a love triangle and with a lot more snarky humor similar to IDW's D&D comic.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
A D&D cartoon, if done RIGHTGDIT, could be very amazing. To my way of thinking the unquestionable ideal venue would be Planechase with frequent visits to other camp settings, heavy on Eberron and Greyhawk with fewer visits to settings like FR and DL (the former because it's too expansive and the latter not enough so). Spelljammer is a bit too corny for audiences to accept, I think (but then I was certain they'd never pull off a Thor movie so who knows), but picking only one setting would be a tragic waste of the immensity of the canon.
Mind flayers. I want GD mind flayers for the main villains. Pretty much impossible to improve on, though ideally others would be used as well. Some of the best storylines like Temple of Elemental Evil could use a nod as well, but it'd be neat if the story didn't follow these well-known plots so much as cross paths with them, giving the impression of huge machinations going on which the players only touch upon.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Regarding the series concept, the biggest advantage is that it allowed an easy way to introduce a new world.
If non of the characters came from this world, the world building is easier, and the viewers learn about the world along with the characters.
(This was kind of wasted on the old show, that didn't have much of a world building anyway)
However, this isn't required, and there are better way to introduce a world by adventuring in it and slowly bringing more and more elements on the surface.
"One Piece" is an example of how to do that well, but it certainly isn't the only one.
The biggest problem I had with the old series, is that the adventures felt forced and unnecessary.
The group didn't go for adventures because they were needed or felt it was the right thing to do, it was more because some wacky DM told them to do so.
That kind of cheapens what they did every episode.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
To keep the feel of it being actually something from DnD intact, I do agree it'd have to have an "Earth people in a different world" set-up. It may be harder to do right, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. (For instance, if it's set up like people actually playing the game and switching between worlds and showing real-world stuff as well, that'd give you a whole extra dimension. One player could be in it to cope with his depression, another to make friends and not actually be interested in the game at first, there could be the divide between the roleplayer and the powergamer, who later come to see they're not so different after all, for you Stormwind Fallacy lovers out there.)
Furthermore, that might actually make it more interesting to people who don't play DnD, as you have to take into account the people who aren't the direct target demographic. It's also much more likely to be watched by kids, so throwing in certain things like language barriers is a bad idea (at least right from the start, I do think that the main characters running into it later would be a nifty idea and embroil them into the setting further). Making the characters come from locations in the world that the people most likely to be watching them is also the most logical, but this doesn't mean they couldn't have connections to other parts of the world. For instance, if you have an Asian in the group, perhaps he only moved recently from Malaysia and got into the group to make friends, not knowing anything about the game. Such a thing would be easiest if the characters either work at an international company or all go to some university with a high level of foreign students.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Aotrs Commander
Edit: In fact, it occurs that the other advantage is, if you set it up right, the Earth people would not need to have the desire to return home to their families (the Romans come from Pompeii - perhaps the eruption was caused BY the BBEG in his attempt to conquer a new world, or from the fall of the First Empire in Egypt or something), and the story can be about something other than their attempts to get home. Which a) has already been done, b) runs the risk of giving you either an Endless Quest (dull) or a strict cap on the length when the goal is achieved (with potential dubious undoing of the end when it's decided to do One More Season/the Movie.) It'd give you a more open-ended myth arc, because it wouldn't have to end with "beat BBEG."
If going with the "Earth people in a strange world" approach without them actually playing the game or such, this could also easily be done in the modern day. Maybe one of the characters lost her father to gun violence after her mother left or something and doesn't want to return to a world where she is alone. Stuff like that.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Expanding on my idea, I want to see a cast of 4-6 characters (as the main party, there can be a huge ensemble of recurring allies, foils, anti-hero rivals and anti-villian enemies). Exactly 2 members of this group should be Genre-Savvy...a snarky CN or TN roguish Bard type who knows aaaaall about Stories and adventures because he knows it's an effective way to gain lewt and power, and an NG or CG Cleric of Kord who considers the Hero's Journey and its variants a sacrament, so she intentionally lives her entire life as an adventure and willingly accepts the danger involved so that she can set a good example for others. (She'd also be the kind to adventure in "breastplate" armor, complete with the quotation marks, because she knows her god is a lusty man-god and she wants to give him a good show; this is of course being very meta toward the predominantly male audience, while one of the other characters can subvert or oppose this trend).
For other members of the group I'm thinking of a very methodical and punctilious LN wizard and a token angsty character in the form of a Necropolitan fighter or warblade or something, who knows he's not as tough as the cleric but insists on being the meatshield anyway because he enjoys getting hurt as a form of penance for the same "sins" that made him seek out Crucimigration. If 4 characters isn't plenty, we could add a played-straight Paladin and a Ranger/Barbarian/Druid/Totemist/etc. but these rather narrow roles might be better devoted to recurring guest stars.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I would love it to be high/classic fantasy.. probably forgotten realms..
and I would love for it to be adult oriented..by which I don't mean full of boobies..but something aimed at entertaining adults, not just 6-10 year-olds.
because I'm an adult.
more characters than just the token party..more villains than just the badass one with the cackling laugh.. something with a bit more body to it than your average episode-based cartoon.
also, I would have the people from Avatar (the cartoon) make it..to see if they can pull it off.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I was wondering how you'd handle an eberron based series.
One of the things that reminds me of this is that you can't take alignments for granted.
By that I picture a Paladin who adventures alongside an evil sorceress due to them, being friends and able to work out their differences since they know they can rely on the other.
Keep picturing the actress playing River Song as the sorceress and either Chyna or say someone athletic to play the other role and keep it firmly tongue in cheek perhaps get Bruce Campbell involved and have episodes where you see them adventuring where they get round their more lawful colleague by mixing outright theft with fighting evil just avoiding the really evil stuff where necessary.
I guess the Emerald Claw would be the usual enemy of the week, the paladin is the daughter whose father was supposedly killed by the Claw and she ended up as a mercenary knight who befriended say a human sorceress with a grudge against Kalashtar...
Can't help picturing them storming an Emerald Claw camp freeing captives whilst the sorceress loots the place ended up running from a Minotaur forcing her Paladin to intervene who gets the Minotaur to surrender rather than killing him outright so she can interrogate him...
This leads to their next objective however they have new recruits some of whom are enemy spies and others have no intention of endangering themselves but are willing to sell the others out...
My god has anyone considered the kind of stories they'd like to see?:smallwink:
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Something set in Planescape could be ridiculously mega awesome. It would also be an excellent setting if you did want the 'modern teenagers get sucked from Earth into fantasy world' thing; then it could revolve around the characters trying to find the right portal back home (from Sigil). Alternatively, the characters could be youngsters drawn from a typical, medieval fantasy earth (like Toril), and you could have the same sort of dynamic but with cooler characters (who could also be of traditional fantastic races like elves and such).
I'm picturing something a little Men in Black-ish, with the clueless main character(s) winding up in a world that seems relatively normal at first glance, but then starts to pervert the character's expectations at every turn; i.e. clueless Joe is walking down the street and asks a robed figure where he is, and when he sees the figure's face there's a 'what-the-Shar-is-that!' (a dabus or something) moment.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
I'd much rather have a feature animated film about The Year of Rogue Dragons than a new D&D cartoon.
The D&D cartoon was pretty good, but I don't think it should be redone. They should focus on settings (an Eberron cartoon could be very good and I don't understand how we don't have a Drizzt series already).
I loved the D&D cartoon (and yes, Sheila was an illusionist in Brazil) but it's ran it's course. They should try new ideas.
TL;DR Adapt The Year of Rogue Dragons, Drizzt or Eberron into a cartoon series
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Scarlet-Devil
Something set in Planescape could be ridiculously mega awesome. It would also be an excellent setting if you did want the 'modern teenagers get sucked from Earth into fantasy world' thing; then it could revolve around the characters trying to find the right portal back home (from Sigil).
This. Though I would rather the characters were 20somethings rather than teenagers. Unless the show was going to be a gritty Broken Aesop where the teenagers adventure in D&D world when they should be going through high school or early college, then they come back to Earth only to find that they've missed their formative years, have no credentials, and are stuck with dead-end careers, social maladjustment, and generally not having a future, so they end up going back to Planescape because it's the only world where they have a chance of surviving anymore. (Whereas if the characters are 20somethings, you can skip that first part and the whole thing is much more hopeful, because instead of their loserishness being their own damn fault, it's just the fact that they washed out of society the same way real people do all the time, and so finding a portal elsewhere becomes lucky instead of kinda pathetic.)
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
If they ever make a new D&D cartoon, Drizzt needs to stay as far away from it as possible. :smalleek:
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
historiasdeosos
If they ever make a new D&D cartoon, Drizzt needs to stay as far away from it as possible. :smalleek:
agreed..
very much so
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Do you think it would be better for WotC to do what Marvel and DC are doing and make straight to DVD animated features from the novels they publish, or even original stories?
I know the quality of the DC and Marvel animated features are top notch and DC puts out I think 1-2 a year.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
historiasdeosos
If they ever make a new D&D cartoon, Drizzt needs to stay as far away from it as possible. :smalleek:
Instead, they should make a cartoon series with a main character being an Eberronian drow. :smallamused:
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Scarlet-Devil
Something set in Planescape could be ridiculously mega awesome. It would also be an excellent setting if you did want the 'modern teenagers get sucked from Earth into fantasy world' thing; then it could revolve around the characters trying to find the right portal back home (from Sigil). Alternatively, the characters could be youngsters drawn from a typical, medieval fantasy earth (like Toril), and you could have the same sort of dynamic but with cooler characters (who could also be of traditional fantastic races like elves and such).
I'm picturing something a little Men in Black-ish, with the clueless main character(s) winding up in a world that seems relatively normal at first glance, but then starts to pervert the character's expectations at every turn; i.e. clueless Joe is walking down the street and asks a robed figure where he is, and when he sees the figure's face there's a 'what-the-Shar-is-that!' (a dabus or something) moment.
I like this. Another! (Seriously though, this is one of my favorite ideas so far.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
historiasdeosos
If they ever make a new D&D cartoon, Drizzt needs to stay as far away from it as possible. :smalleek:
Doubly agreed.
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
One thing about having people who are PCs and technically separate individuals who have different experiences is that it was done in The Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg very very well. The main characters for the first half of the series are from a world near analogous to our own who are playing a D&D like game and transferred to the world of the game by a GM who is using them as pawns in his own machinations within that world (an ancient merlin-like wizard who was banished from the world in a magical battle) with no way to easily return (there is technically a bridge between the two worlds but it is guarded by a dragon of extreme strength). The first book deals with the dichotomy between the person they are and the person they were with most of them choosing to only draw upon the character's skills rather than immersing themselves in the character (one person experiences a crisis of personalities and dies trying to rob another person in the first book, another pretty much sheds his old life in favor of the character he is now.)
Exploring this kind of dichotomy would be interesting and certainly provide some level of drama since we have people using powers and drawing upon experiences they have never had, or at least experiences they don't accept as "real"
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Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tal_Akaan
Personally I really don’t like the idea of a group being transported into a fantasy world.
Me neither. Keep the RL out of it, just make a good series about a fantasy world.