How to play the D&D movie as a D&D game, according to the directors
Ever since Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hit theaters, gamers have been hitting up Reddit threads and RPG forums to discuss ways they can draw on the movie to enrich their home D&D games. Wizards of the Coast released official stat blocks for the movie’s primary characters, for anyone who wants to use them as NPCs or even try to play them. But DMs and players want to go further, hoping to replicate some of the movie’s specific action sequences, its central heist focus, or the gladiatorial arena combat in the third act. Honor Among Thieves writer-directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein actually have D&D experience themselves, so Polygon asked them for their best advice on bringing their movie to the gaming table.
Related
Goldstein says that a key part of playing enjoyable D&D games is to not make the characters too idealized, or lean too much on wish fulfillment. “Our characters were crafted to be highly imperfect,” he says. “We always embraced the idea that all of them are flawed — with the possible exception of Xenk [Regé-Jean Page’s paladin character], except that he’s imperfect because he has no sense of humor. So with any good D&D campaign, it’s about figuring out the strengths of your team as a whole. Where can your cohorts fill in the weaknesses in your own character?”
“I would say, if you’re creating a character, don’t be swayed by low number rolls,” Daley says. “I think in many ways, it’s through the weaknesses of your characters that you discover where their true strengths lie. Just from a storytelling perspective, it’s always more fun to create limitations for your characters, versus having them be good at everything — that doesn’t create a good game, nor does it provide a good story to
Read more on polygon.com
