Exactly! Such a great addition that adds to the D&D experience as a whole!

Yeah i always hated that crap so i force my players to figure stuff out. If they mess up, they mess up. Either they think of another way to do the thing or they fail. And there is nothing wrong with that. Failure is part of life.

"What's the Aarokocra's name?" "Uhhh, Jarnathan."

"You rolled a 1? Okay, you have stepped on the wrong stone and the entire bridge falls down in front of you."

​@@KurNorock you sound like a lovely dm....

Well ain't that adorable.

Yeah, it changed the entire plot for me, which seemed a bit flatlined through most of the movie. That line changed it a lot for me. He was being selfish in the end. He admits he wanted to do the thing for a selfish reason, his daughter was just an excuse up to the very end.

I fucking hated that distinction...

@@jsmithers. I'm curious, May I ask why?

@@thejaiganticbridge5479 No.

And Xenk being a paladin was the most charming and wise, strong, dexterous, and could take some damage.. but couldn't understand sarcasm and took things way to literal.. and walked over a boulder instead of walking around it.

it would be interesting to see their character sheets, but i don't see simon with a high stat in either CHA or INT 😄

Bingo. Our party consists of Xenk (Strength, Constitution, Wisdom, maybe Charisma? But also a DM character, DM's just gonna OP everything, so of course he won't be attacked), Druid (Wisdom), Barbarian (Strength/Con), Sorcerer (Charisma), and a Bard (Charisma). Though I personally prefer a fan theory that Edwin is NOT a Bard, but rather a Mastermind Rogue, which would be Charisma and Dexterity. I like this theory, because we don't see Edwin actually DO any Bard spells. He uses his Lute as a preferred weapon for Attacks of Opportunity, mostly, and a couple Sneak Attacks. But he also has a background as a Performer, thus why he's so good at playing the Lute.

@@vinsanity40k interestingly, their intelligence isn't that bad. Sure, not the main stat level, of course, but way above average for most (good enough to BE the main stat, at least on lower levels). The character stat blocks for the main cast have been released for free on D&D Beyond. If you have the account you can check a lot of details (weapons, feats, special skills, etc.) there, but just the stat array below: Doric (the druid): STR 12, DEX 16, CON 14, INT 16, WIS 19, CHA 10 Edgin (the bard): STR 14, DEX 16, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 16, CHA 18 Holga (the barbarian): STR 19, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 11, WIS 16, CHA 13 Simon (the sorcerer): STR 8, DEX 14, CON 13, INT 16, WIS 12, CHA 17 Xenk (the paladin): STR 19, DEX 11, CON 16, INT 14, WIS 16, CHA 17 also, since it's there: Forge (the conman - rogue who seems to be CHA-based): STR 11, DEX 14, CON 13, INT 15, WIS 17, CHA 20 Sofina (the red wizard): STR 12, DEX 14, CON 18, INT 20, WIS 14, CHA 8 As you can see, two of the Underdark team have the INT of 16, two others 14. If the average is 10 and few PCs, who don't use the stat, typically get it above 12, I'd say all of them, with the exception of Holga, would've been a treat for intellect devourers. But maybe, just maybe that particular pack was used to getting a lot of Sofinas on their hunting ground.

@@WhiteWolfDarkpaw Paladin's core stat is also Charisma

100% what happened.

They need to make it more about fun and action than sticking to the rules smh

Doric: "Nice save."

Just like a real game.

Which is always how D&D seems to go, unfortunately for DMs! 😅

Or brute forcing a solution by just asking every single corpse in the graveyard until they get the answer they seek. I can see the DM groan as they have to come up with another name and contribution to the battle.

I was giggling in glee knowing exactly what was about to happen before it did.

i feel like the jarnathan escape while pardoned was

They used that joke in the ad campaign and it never landed with me. But when I saw it in theaters it was perfect and hilarious. Just goes to show how much context and state of mind matter.

I once watched a campaign. Where a they asked a giant turtle about many things. Because it was slowly falling asleep they had only one question left and one player quickly asked "What's your favourite color?" While falling asleep the turtle said one final word "Green"

Agreed. I keep seeing comparisons of the breezy, snarky feel of this flick to Marvel movies. They're not wrong. But I feel like it's less of a Marvel thing and more of a... geek culture thing. Weaving high fantasy with contemporary views, including a sense of irreverence, had always been a part of my own experience around any given table. Marvel's success was (among other things) doing that with the superhero genre. But that sense of style in Marvel and this flick come from common culture rather than mimicry. If one hasn't experienced that culture... I get that this feels like Marvel does LoTR. But rather... it's just... D&D.

Exactly what my group thought when we went to see it. It's totally fits the vibe of a D&D game.

Can't forget the perfectly played DMPC paladin who actually did what DMPC's are SUPPOSED to do by just helping out the lowbies and then peacing out instead of hijacking the party to fulfill the DM's main character syndrome. Well done all around.

A meta critic is it looks like players in a dungeon part, dealing with NPC.

Zenk leaves even as an NPC

**Quickly glances at the enemy** "Dangnabbit, he's out of my range." "What? How do you know?" "125 feet, just beyond my range." "...How... Are you SURE he's-" "Yup."

That reminded me of Portal 2 where you eventually discover that the portal gun's range is long enough to hit the moon.

"I didn't ask how big the room was. I said I'm casting Fireball."

​@@brucemaximus3797 "Sacha is 5 feet away from Xyganoth the River Lich, so if I cast fireball targeting them, it'll hit her, too. But the room is large enough that I can target an area 15 feet away from Xyganoth, barely encompassing them but missing Sacha. It'll also hit four of the six Naiad warriors." "...You figured that out in less than 6 seconds?" "Yes. Yes I did."

​@cojec "I had an hour to figure out these 6 seconds, so of course my character who is much smarter than me could figure that out"

My brother DMs for his friends and when they went to see the movie they immediately started asking for him to put it in their game. He already knows how they're going to try to abuse it and is trying to figure out work arounds

@@VegetaLF7 tell him the stats for the Staff are on D&D Beyond, free to pick up, alongside all the other important items (Helm of Disjunction, Horn of Beckoning Death, Tablet of Reawakening, Red Wizard's Blade). The staff specifically has limited charges so it can't be abused too much (still quite generous though, if you ask me). Interestingly, I did the math and they never used more charges than the item has during the movie as they did have a long rest (likely more) between the Underdark and Neverwinter to recharge it. A small detail, but good to know they kept it within the design limit.

I saw this bit as a DM spending ages on a puzzle for them to solve, thinkijg they'll love it, only to be stymied by that one impatient player who gets bored halfway through the explanation and interrupts the DM with "i stand on the bridge" so they're forced to come up with "oh that random item your party picked up a session ago is actually a portal gun"

I always think about Scanlan with an Immovable Rod inside a dragon, and Vax just being broken with how many attacks he can take in addition to the boots of haste. He was basically like, "I'm going to attack 17 times and 6 of those are sneak attak!" 😂

The DM had clearly been playing a lot of _Portal_ beforehand, too.

Mini Cooper was a nice addition ot the movie.

Mini-Cooper - beautiful!

It's also just another example of the "DM" in the film. People often describe NPCs as "They look like such-and-such-celebrity, only small/green/with pointy ears."

​@@PaulGuyI've never experienced that. But I can understand why someone might do that. At least to cut time.

Everyone like a mini Cooper!

Good point. I also noticed for the first time how they explained some of the magic elements too- "We had to distract you long enough for Kira to put the bracelet on..." And I don't mind any of it.

I've listened to several D&D podcasts, and there's always someone who asks what something is, or how something works lol. This movie made me feel like I was watching the adventures of those podcast players.

Some things are there for the players though too. Like when they're asking the corpses the questions, and one of them mentions Zenk and Edgin says something about that being a dead end. And the 3 other "players" all make some kind of history or intelligence check and the Druid says "I've heard of him" and says who he is. And the other two chime in with them also having heard of him. Which is exactly how it goes when playing DnD, when the DM is giving YOU exposition, your friends roll their checks and they manage to remember him while you don't.

Yeah, seeing the chonky boi move about makes me believe that he was indeed inspired by a chonky cat

I see the cat story repeated a lot on youtube. Unfortunately it's an urban legend that is most likely untrue, if not outright impossible, for a number of reasons. For one Themberchaud, only showed up in any material after Gygax left TSR (D&D's original publisher). At first basically only as a stat-block in a list of Underdark NPCs. Without any real mention of his appearance, personality or backstory. A later book added a bit of personality about how he often ate underlings who failed to follow his orders and everything else about him was fleshed out (figuratively and literally) from there. A lot, if not most, of which happened after Gygax had already passed. Needless to say none of the material where Themberchaud appears was written by Gygax. Furthermore he is a character from the Forgotten Realms setting. A setting Gygax never used. When Gygax worked at TSR Forgotten Realms was just another DM, Ed Greenwood's, private setting. It only got turned into an official D&D setting after Gygax left specifically because the previous default D&D setting, Greyhawk, had been Gygax's setting as a DM, and they needed a replacement. Also I can't find any mention anywhere of Gygax ever owning a cat. And in the official tabletop material Themberchaud is presented a lot less like big-dumb-cat and much more like idk, Baron Harkonnen. He is also often presented as generally one of the more agreeable of the red dragons. Sure if you are sneaking about his lair with weapons you are going to get chomped if you can't come up with a good explanation real quick, but he is also presented as (since he can't leave the Underdark on his own, or really be able to fit much of anywhere) hiring adventures to do stuff for him and being generally honest and reasonable about it, for someone who likes to eat people.

I haven't seen anybody else point out Rakor is a Black Dragon which breathes black acid. Nat had asked what was coming out of his mouth.

Michelle is very sorry considering that she physically worked hard to prepare for this role

It's also always refreshing to have male and female leads whose relationship isn't romantic.

​@@wtimminsand that its spelled out very clearly so there's no will they won't they moments.

Yes yes please 🙏

yes! the legend of vox machina is great!

Legend of Vox Machina is so so great!! Natalie should definitely watch it

I am adding my vote to this as well!

Here here!! (or is it hear hear? Hear Here? Anyway, yes do this!! 🙂)

Yes! Was looking for someone else recommending it! I really hope she gives it a try one day! 😊

second that

Yes, it's an amazing show based on a real game of D&D, but it's totally watchable even if you've never watched Critical Role

This. Do this.

Another vote for Legend of Vox Machina.

Thirded.

Yep, Vox Machina is great.

Yes! Please watch it, its so good.

And when the players come up with a genius way of abusing their item the dm comes up with “the painting falls over”. Love it.

It's also clearly a Portal device from _Portal_ video game, yet it works well in-universe because it basically just modifies an old D&D spell "Dimension Doom" that creates a short-range teleportation portal several characters can use.

I just left a comment saying pretty much the same thing. The characters never sandbag the story to make a joke, but instead, the jokes comes from their personalities interacting with each other and the world around them. And when it's time to be serious or sad or frustrated, then the characters express that earnestly.

Yes! Even Edgin's cynicism ("just because it's symmetrical doesn't make it not nonsense!") feels like a cocky bard player messing with the DM. And he's more than just this irony AND is balanced by other characters, particularly Xenk

Can you find a source on him being an improvised cat inspiration, with the table and stuff? Can't find it online and would love it to show to my players. I'm currently dming out of the abyss.

@@Felipeleog Seems unlikely as Gary Gygax didn't have any involvement with Forgotten Realms.

mmm tasty

"A million and one uses!" -- Immoveable Rod advertising poster

For the next movie I hope they have a Decanter of Endless Water 😂

And D&D doesn't have to stick with the fantasy realm, there are story settings for all genres, cyberpunk, star wars, my little pony, Transformers, ninja turtles, office cubicles, back of house kitchen ... just, have fun in a social setting!

Hell yes watch detective pikachu!

I definitely want to play sometime! Maybe one of these days I’ll have the time for a campaign haha

@@NatalieGoldReacts another option, there are some board games that come with pre-made characters and enemies, use a series of tiles, and provide an easy set up and play scenario for between 1-5 players. Ravenloft (vampires in D&D), Drizzt DoUrden (a popular hero & his trusted group), and Ashardalan (?Sp?, steal from a big red dragon). They are between $50 - $80, have everything you need, and are interchangeable. It's a quick jump in and go play style. Also, easy to enjoy w/ friends and drinks (nit that all D&D players require alcohol, etc.) But, the old school table top will be more engaging and fun when it's nearly 100% player generated, w/all forms of quirky fun, theatrical even. Basically, it's creative storytelling. As a theater kid, this would definitely be up your alley!

Detective Pikachu was surprisingly good.

Holga messes up names because she likely has a low Intelligence score. (Typical for the Barbarian class.)

It's probably a movie that'll do pretty well on streaming platforms through word of mouth, so that could still make it possible for us to get a sequel as sequels usually perform better in theaters anyway. After all, it did make some money (around 200 million USD against its 150 million budget) so it wasn't a complete flop.

@@nezfromhki 200 on a 150 budget is a pretty big flop sadly, theaters take roughly half the box office, and then there's the marketing costs on top of the budget, generally a movie has to make roughly 2.5 times its budget to start being considered a success. I do hope the streaming/digital/physical media sales are good though, this movie deserved to do so much better than it did.

Unfortunately the film came out right on the back of a couple of serious PR blunders by Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast (who are the owners of the D&D brand) which caused a lot of the built in audience to not go see it as retribution. Without that audience, and the word of mouth they’d have give the movie just couldn’t build up enough steam to become profitable. A massive shame as it was a really fun film, and I’d love to see a sequel.

@@justinmcqueen7922 While that is true for traditional movies, much of this movie's success will be on how much the streaming and ancillary markets do. If there is a massive spike in interest in the game and the books start selling like wildfire because of it, the movie did well enough to be considered a loss-leader and might still garner a sequel.

Hasbro and the movie studio said that they believe that the film did badly in theatres because they released it too close to the Mario movie. And they said they intend to make another if this one does well on streaming.

Also, Edgin keeps telling Simon, "Hold this." because if you look closely, Simon has a Bag of Holding.

And don't forget Themberchaud the chonky boi! Lol. He was great.

❤❤❤

Did anyone else read that with the Comic Book Guy voice in their head?

​@@toddsmittsmy mind went to Mike Trapp but his whole show is kind of rooted in the same stereotype as Comic Book Guy

@@toddsmitts I hope so!

From Charizards to Spoony Bards, Nerds are passionate about many things, but what they love most of all is correcting people. This is "Um, Actually!"

that and also Themberchaud is a canon character.

Right down to the wizard lady's final defeat being an anticlimactic pound-down on her HP because Doric got a good roll.

Just a suggestion: Play your first session or two light on the drinks while you learn the basics, then after that, yeah add a few more to taste. 🙂

Xenk is also a bit of an NPC

Xenk is for sure an NPC, when he leaves the group he even walks in a straight line, regardless of the environment.

@samwallaceart288 and @motorcycleboy9000, Xenk wasn't an NPC. He's also the guy who can't get to the game due to his schedule, so they write him in and out as needed, but also give him a reason to be there with the connection to the Harpers AND his relationship with the Thayans. Xenk is definitely a player.

for sure, so much easier to find players and schedule.

I think it was just to keep things straightforward for the casual audience with Simon being the only member of the group who really had "magic". The only magic that Doric really used was her wild shape (which worked differently than it does in game for rule of cool). Edgin almost seemed more like a Rogue with the Performer background than a Bard, but that's the role they needed him for.

Ginni D had a good Short on Edgin and his approach ( kzfaq.info2u-ekvaWnAo ) and also another one about Doric ( kzfaq.infoKUhgrlfNiDA ).

Lol *BONK* 😂🤣😂

no, please not