For people who don’t play Dungeons & Dragons, the new Dungeons & Dragons film,Honor Among Thieves, is a pretty solid time at the movies — a brisk fantasy-thriller full of chases and banter, with one smug villain and one creepy villain swapping places at center stage, and some recognizable movie stars doing their respective things. For longtime players, though, it’s a lot more: a nonstop collection of Easter eggs and visual references, a satisfying visual tour of a familiar setting, and a chance to see a lot of familiar elements of play on screen for the first time, from highly specific magic use (like item attunement and wild-magic surges) to the city of Neverwinter.
Sure, the movie seems designed to start arguments between the “That was fun” crowd and the “This movie breaks the following 18 rules!” types, in the same way any movie set and shot in a specific city reveals the clear divide between “Hey, I know that place, I’ve been there!” celebrants and “Ugh, those two roads they drove on don’t even connect in real life!” nitpickers. But for some players, debating how the movie and game fit together isn’t a criticism, it’s just an enjoyable thought experiment. With that in mind, here’s a thought worth delving into: Would Honor Among Thieves actually be a fun D&D module to play?
[Ed. note: Broad spoilers ahead for the overall plot of Honor Among Thieves.]
Let’s leave aside the question of the characters themselves and the specific ways they interact — presumably at your own D&D table, you aren’t going to be sitting down with Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez. (If you are, the viral marketing for this movie is a whole lot more granular than we realized.) You might or might not want to play an Honor Among Thieves game with
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