Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is the Perfect movie for D & D fans. It expertly adapts the structure of a role-playing campaign into the feature film. It's loaded with DD in-jokes and references--but like any good campaign, it always outs the characters first.

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Written by Dodson Seitz   / banewruse  
Hosted by Ryan Arey (  / ryanarey  )
Edited by Harriet Lengel-Enright and Colton Ogburn

#DungeonsAndDragons #HonorAmongThieves #Breakdown

As one of the oldest and most popular fantasy role-playing games, It's by far the most referenced tabletop game in every form of entertainment, [clip] but you probably wouldn't know that if you had a lot of friends in high school.

[clip]

What makes the movie work is the fact is - the story.

The disjointed aspects of the adventure, heavy use of bonafide lore, and subtle meta-references [clip] allow the film to play out JUST like a typical D&D campaign, and despite the fact that we never see the larger game being played [clip] - its relatively easy for longtime players to catch on.

Some characters make distinct choices - that seem to be of their own free will, [clip] while others are simply playing a role [clip] - and even robotic at times. [clip]

The “player characters” form a pretty standard party, and they embody the stereotypes of their class. [clip]

Doug: What do you mean by “player characters? Are You trying to say “they got game”?

Kinda - Player characters in D&D are characters played by the actual people playing the game. [clip] It’s a way to differentiate them from the non-player characters or NPCs - who are controlled by the DM.

Doug: Kind of like Ryan Reynolds in Free Guy?

[clip]


Actually, that's a great comparison. High five!

Doug: But wait, what’s a DM?

DM stands for Dungeon master, and In D&D, they dictate the story. If the player characters are actors in a play, then the DM is the author, director, set designer, and literally everything else. [clip]

Most of the time, they simply tell the story like a narrator,[clip] but occasionally, they have to assume a role themselves, hence NPC’s.

These characters are typically villains and side characters, but occasionally they act as a guiding characters - like Xenk Yendar (Zen-ik Yahn - dar), our paladin friend. [clip]

Doug: So how do you know who a player character is and who’s an NPC?

Great question. While there’s nothing directly stating who is an NPC and who is a player character, It's clear characters like Xenk have all the answers in nearly every circumstance while Edgin, Holga, Simon and Doric (Door - ik) are the only ones constantly being challenged.[clip]

the “player” characters have more natural dialogue,[clip] whereas the NPCs all talk like the staff at your local ren fair. [clip]

[clip]

Plus, with the exception of a few small scenes, there isn't a single moment in the film without at least one of them in it.

This also means that there is a lot of character development for any of the NPC’s - which is probably why characters like the Red Wizard Sofina come off as generic.[clip]

Doug: Because in a D&D campaign, you wouldn't focus on the side characters

EXACTLY - you’re catching on.

The “player characters” in this film are almost cliche representations of their class.

[clip] We have the strong but dumb barbarian, [clip] a sly druid,[clip] an inspirationally charismatic bard, [clip] and a sorcerer who continues to surprise both himself and the team throughout the whole movie.

None of them follow the traditional hero narrative, and they all have elaborate backstories that are spoon feed to the audience almost immediately after we meet them.