Sometimes the Web could feel like what gamers call a “dungeon crawl,” though, instead of moving a group of jewel-seeking adventurers from room to room, I was clicking links that acted as secret doors or teleportation booths, unsure of what treasure I sought. Back in the heyday of blogs, I found myself going down rabbit holes, chasing smartly written micro-essays (on sites including Grognardia) about all manner of role-playing ephemera and arcana. I’m a current non-player but a more than casual observer of the game.
The heroes’ clearly defined central quest-the recapture of a powerful magic item called the Tablet of Reawakening-is peppered with setbacks and pleasantly long-winded tangents and side missions, giving the illusion of trial and error.
But the plot of “Honor Among Thieves”-even the subtitle sounds like it took twelve seconds to dream up-stays true to the improv spirit of the game, despite the fact that it’s been in development since 2013. The film unfolds within the boundaries of the game’s long-running Forgotten Realms setting rather than some funky homegrown (i.e., non-canon) campaign. In the course of its forty-nine-year history, it has spawned iconically gnarly monsters (the Demogorgon, familiar to “ Stranger Things” fans), terminology (alignments such as “chaotic good”), and countless product lines. juggernauts that have dominated swords and sorcery on the big and small screens for the past two decades.ĭ. & D. The casual feel of the new movie “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” is in contrast to the high seriousness of the “Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones” I.P. Such deliberate, charming clumsiness matches the vibe of much of actual gameplay, with its stretches of low-stakes spitballing between bouts of hand-to-hand combat. You know you’re playing Dungeons & Dragons-or watching a movie inspired by the legendary role-playing game-when the characters have names as awkward as Edgin Darvis or Holga Kilgore, names that sound like anagrams. Voice, calling my name.” - Paul La Farge, “ The Night “I saw someone on the beach, waving his arms, shouting in a familiar
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