My favorite explanation still came from my Father. He never played but was trying to explain D&D to his friends in "The Crew" after I started playing and was getting the other kids Up the Lake to try.
"Imagine you play Monopoly at one house. Then the game ends. A few days later you go to another house with different people, but you keep the same piece and all the properties and money from the first game."
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was a close second place.
Great Googely Moogely this was fun, and it really felt like watching the results of a bunch of idiots like my friends and I sitting around a table running a campaign. The Sorcerer even had a fake (but impressive) British accent for no reason.
The story and characters are a total hoot. More in line with the game, they all have strangely complex back stories that shouldn't align with each other's yet do. Also, the back stories have tragic elements featured prominently, but they take no fun away from the current story.
And thank you movie makers for going back to Second Edition, and even First Edition name and place references. I found myself constantly shouting, "OOH! I know that one," while occasionally running downstairs to grab a First Edition hardcover, or think about dusting off Baldur's Gate II.
Nice inclusion of the Eighties cartoon characters as a cameo as well. That sort of forced, trap filled adventure was their bread and butter, of course they survived.
The movie makers went out of the way to pick the character classes, monsters, spells and settings that make Dungeons and Dragons unique compared to a typical fantasy setting.
The fact that it felt like the characters were constantly making it up as they went along, while being simultaneously given a hard time and helped by destiny (aka the Dungeon Master) was a beautiful tribute to what the shared storytelling experience of playing the game really feels like.
Since my daughter has made it a point to avoid playing D&D, (though playing in the womb impressed her college's Board Game Club) which was a huge part of my life for years. (I expect solely to annoy me.) Because she loved the film as much as I did, I can testify that it works for non gamers as well. (Rosa liked it too, but she did have a brief gaming experience back in the day.)
I always feel like I can tell when a cast enjoyed making a film, and that feeling spills over to those watching it. I definitely got that vibe from this movie. After the fact I found out the cast bonded by playing as their characters in a D&D campaign, DMed by someone from TSR Wizards of the Coast. It added to the film feeling like a gaming session.
I'm looking forward to many more adventures of this party.
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