Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

[Alec Worley]

Just done a big review of this over on Agent of Weird... https://alecworley.substack.com/p/dungeons-and-dragons-honour-among

[Barrington Boots]

Another cool read and a very good review, thank you!

I went into this film with rock-bottom expectations so really enjoyed it. I found the first half of the film pretty disjointed but once the plot starts to focus on the actual heist it improves a lot and it's got plenty of charm. Definitely captures some of the TTRPG with its blend of drama and ridiculousness.

I enjoyed your comments on D&D vs WHFRP and other British systems as well. I've always found D&D to be a very bland setting that compared poorly to Warhammer but as time have passed I've come to appreciate it a lot more. The 90s was a decade of edgy, dark rpgs - SLA Industries, Vampire, various Cyberpunk games etc - with a trend towards damaged, sociopathic characters in grim, nihilistic settings - and now I'm older the sheer simplicity of 'an elf, a dwarf and a wizard go on a quest in a reasonably generic setting' is much more of a winner. Everyone knows broadly what's up and as you say there's less bumping into the furniture.

I don't play D&D, I play Pathfinder and WotC can do one but they made a winner with this movie. Hopefully it'll do good things for the hobby: it's great to see it being more acceptable and accessible for all.

[nxylas]

I actually inherited a DVD of the 2000 movie from someone who was having a clearout prior to a house move, but could never bring myself to watch it, despite Tom Baker being in it. I think he's only in a couple of scenes, is that right?

[Alec Worley]

I got back into RPGs thanks to my god-daughter. 5th Edition D&D is her thing, but I've managed to get her and her fella into Warhammer (though the system is super-crunchy). Really fascinated with the old school revival stuff like Dungeon Crawl Classics, Pirate Borg and the new Shadowdark, which I would've backed on Kickstarter but I missed the boat by a day.

That Courtney Solomon D&D flick is just... awful. Marlon Wayans is so bad in it, it's like he's trying to pick a fight with filmmaking itself!

[Barrington Boots]

That 2000 D&D film should not be watched under any circumstances!

I've got Pirate Borg and it is great. There can be a whiff of elitism sometimes about the OSR stuff but there's some very cool stuff there and it's good to see the underground (such as it is) thriving.

[Funt Solo]

I really enjoyed Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves - it's just a really good movie, and neatly wipes the slate clean after the utterly risible 2000-thing.

Watching the [2000] trailer is weird, because on the one hand it seems to have ingredients that would work (Jeremy Irons as a villain and Richard O'Brien as a maze-master) but also has meta-textual warnings about how the audience will feel when watching it: "Kill them ... slowly!" ... "Just when you think you're safe".

Why is the dwarf emaciated? Why is Tom Baker an elf? He's a lot things, but he's not graceful. And the black sidekick dies. Oh, for shame!

Anyway - none of that happens in Honour Among Thieves, which is all kinds of kick-ass.

[Jim_Campbell]

Anyway - none of that happens in Honour Among Thieves, which is all kinds of kick-ass.

Yep. As noted on the general movie thread, it's great. Manages to feel like D&D whilst still being thoroughly entertaining throughout.

[The Legendary Shark]

Great fun throughout. I especially enjoyed the fat dragon.

[Jim_Campbell]

I especially enjoyed the fat dragon.

Possibly the best bit... although the rest is great, too.

[Barrington Boots]

Fat dragon is an absolute delight.
Did everyone recognise the 80s cartoon characters? I think Jim did from something he said on the film thread.

[broodblik]

I actually found the movie to be boring and if you watched the trailer then you watched the movie. I think all of the "jokes" where in the trailer.

[nxylas]

Coming soon from Rebellion Pictures - Tunnels and Trolls: The Movie?

[Jim_Campbell]

I actually found the movie to be boring and if you watched the trailer then you watched the movie. I think all of the "jokes" where in the trailer.

Obviously, I enjoyed the movie a lot more than you did, but there are some very smart 'meta' D&D jokes running through the film as well, particularly the implied hand of the DM — the sudden appearance of the paladin, Xenk Yendar, clearly an NPC several levels higher than the party, is obviously a response to the DM's realisation that the party is a collection of fuck-ups who will need shepherding through a tricky part of the scenario.

Even when Yendar clearly explains how the booby-trapped bridge works and how to circumvent it, the PCs still manage to fuck it up, prompting the sudden revelation that one of the characters possesses a previously unknown magic item that will still allow them to proceed. Once that stage of the scenario is complete, Yendar pretty much says "my part here is done" and then walks off in a perfectly straight line until he's out of the party's sight... as if he was there to serve a single purpose and, once complete, he's removed from the 'board'.

[wedgeski]

That was my favourite gag in the movie, perfectly executed.

[broodblik]

I see you guys looked much closer to nuances of the movie