Project Geekology
Embark on an epic journey with Anthony and Dakota as they delve into the vast realms of geek culture, from cherished classics to cutting-edge creations. Join us for an exhilarating adventure of exploration and nostalgia, as we unearth hidden gems and reminisce about the moments that have shaped us. Welcome to the ultimate celebration of all things geeky!
Project Geekology
D&D: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Grab your d20s and prepare for adventure as we dive into Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the 2023 film that captured the heart and soul of D&D while delivering one of the most entertaining fantasy adventures in recent years.
This episode feels like a natural critical hit as we explore what made this Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez-led romp so special, despite it not achieving the box office success it deserved. Rich, our resident D&D newcomer, shares his unbridled enthusiasm for the film, comparing his experience to watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Dakota and Anthony offer the perspective of active D&D players, pointing out how perfectly the film captures the experience of a tabletop campaign, from critical failures to unexpected solutions.
We break down the stellar cast performances, with Hugh Grant's deliciously self-serving Forge Fitzwilliam and the scene-stealing appearances by a pint-sized Bradley Cooper deserving special mention. The hosts dissect memorable sequences like Doric's shapeshifting escape, the speaking-with-dead cemetery scene, and that hilariously literal straight-line-walking paladin Xenk. For D&D players, the film offers delightful references to game mechanics and lore, while newcomers get a perfectly accessible fantasy adventure that stands on its own.
The conversation expands to how the film has influenced official D&D materials, with items and locations from the movie becoming part of the game's canon. We also touch on upcoming D&D media projects, including a Netflix series being produced by Stranger Things' Sean Levy.
Whether you're a seasoned Dungeon Master or someone who's never rolled a saving throw in your life, our discussion celebrates why Honor Among Thieves deserves your attention and the sequel that fans are desperately hoping for. Listen now, and you might just find yourself inspired to start your own adventure in the Forgotten Realms!
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Welcome to episode 113 of Project Geekology. And I just rolled a d20 and it landed on 13. So that's why we decided to do 113. Not because it's chronological, but just that's where it landed.
Speaker 2:I am. You gotta respect the die. You gotta respect the die.
Speaker 1:This week we are going to be covering Dungeons and Dragons, honor Among Thieves, the 2023 movie. We have lots to say about it. I think pretty favorably, but we'll get into that later. I'm one half of your host, anthony, and joining me, as always, is Dakota?
Speaker 2:Yes, I think. I think we do have mostly favorable things to say about this movie. I certainly do.
Speaker 3:But yeah, my name is dakota and I'm also joined with rich really happy to talk to you guys about demogorgons and seven and all the stuff that I know about dungeons and dragons just wait until you meet the beholder next season.
Speaker 2:Actually, I don't know, but I I'm assuming that is probably the most classic Dungeons and Dragons, like foe is the beholder. So I'm guessing that's what they're saving for the final season of Stranger Things. But yeah, I'm excited to see that whenever that comes up. But anyway, yeah, so we are covering Honor Among Thieves, the 2023 Dungeons and Dragons movie. That did not perform well, I mean, at least not box office wise. It didn't perform in a way that it was immediately brought on or like greenlit for a sequel, which everybody and their mom wants. Anyone who's ever seen this movie is just like wow, this is too good for its own right and it definitely deserves more like space to grow on screen. So it I hope. I hope we do eventually get to see Holga and Edgan again in another adventure, but for now, we can enjoy honor among thieves to the fullest. But before we get into any of that, let's jump into what we've been up to these past two weeks, because I was sick last week.
Speaker 1:So, anthony, what have you been up to these past two weeks? Because I was sick last week. So, anthony, what have you been up to? Edakota was down with the sickness, the flu, yes. So, honestly, like these past couple of weeks have been like really me prepping to kind of shift over my job role. I I'm slowly starting to get in the equipment for my job.
Speaker 1:I get a work phone like they sent me, like I got in a package from from my job today and like I open it up, I'm like, okay, this is small, this isn't like a computer, you know, because like the box wasn't like big enough to like fit like even a laptop. And like I open it up and there's like a phone in there. It's like an iPhone. I'm like, okay, I guess this is like my work phone. Like it's weird, like I've never had like a work phone except for, like you know, whatever the one that like next to my station, but that one, just, like you know, it's like a generic number. But so like, yeah've been like slowly, like kind of starting that it hasn't really like fully hit me yet, but like, yeah, man, next week is my last week, man, this week's almost over, and then, you know, next week I'm that, that's it. I'll no longer be working at a physical bank location. I'll be working from home and in a different you know it role.
Speaker 2:So that's awesome, dude. I never had the privilege of working for a place that sent me, you know, a work phone or anything like that. I can barely find the walkie talkies on like my electrical job to like talk to my partner. So yeah, I that's. That's pretty cool man, that's funny.
Speaker 1:But yeah, man, like I've been mostly like playing, like you know, either marvel rivals or monster hunter, like still like really enjoying that. I haven't gotten to the end game yet, it's not really that long of a game, but with the exception of like the first like weekend, I haven't like played really like long, extended sessions of it, I think mostly just because I'm kind of like trying to savor it, not like trying to just blow through it.
Speaker 2:But you're talking about marvel rivals no monster, hunter wilds oh, I thought you said marvel rivals yeah, I said two games oh okay, sorry my bad. All right, monster hunter wilds you, you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have not been blowing through it yeah, yeah, yeah so but yeah, no, I know I'm getting like pretty close to the end. I mean, if I wanted to like I think it was like that that first weekend I could have probably blown through like the the campaign, but I don't know, like I I've just been enjoying that like this, the story in this game is they really like kind of expanded it and made it better than like the past monster hunter games. Like you know, there's actual like voice acting. There really wasn't like any voice acting, except for, like maybe some of the cut scenes or or like very minimal dialogue. You know, yeah, but yeah, no, I've been like, you know, just kind of nothing too big, except for, you know, just that stuff, that stuff. What about you? What have you been up to?
Speaker 2:I've also been playing video games, actually Because I've been homesick and pretty much just like napping all the time. I don't really have a lot of energy, or I didn't have any energy like especially last week. Dude, the flu is no joke. I was out like two Saturdays ago. Yeah, I think it was two Saturdays ago. Yeah, I think it was two Saturdays ago. I was so dead to the world that, like I was just like a zombie on the couch. I would just like have a cup of tea in my lap and I would literally pass out and the tea would just spill all over my lap. Like I was completely. I was just completely out of it. In the middle of the night. I would sweat through everything Like multiple times. I would find myself in the shower at like four in the morning. I was just like I cannot live right now. Like what's happening? Yeah, no, the flu is no joke. I am definitely out of it. I still have a little frog in my throat, but that's pretty much it.
Speaker 2:Anyway, I did do more gaming than I normally do, just because I had the time. I did want to mention I think a couple weeks ago on the podcast I spoke about a mobile game that I was playing called godzilla kong titan. I called it titan hunters. It's actually called titan chasers. Anyway, I, as I mentioned, I wanted to give it a few days of gameplay, see how I liked it. It was okay. It's kind of like a base builder slash, character upgrader, slash, resource gatherer, slash quest thing. It was like too much going on and I didn't really like it, but I wanted to like it, if that makes sense, because I do like the monster verse godzilla kong and all it. But I wanted to like it, if that makes sense, because I do like the MonsterVerse Godzilla Kong and all that yeah.
Speaker 2:So I wanted to, you know, just enjoy, like the story mode, which was okay, you know it really didn't have any groundbreaking stuff or anything like that. But I stopped playing about a week ago because I discovered a mechanic that I really hate. So in this game, you build your player card, like your handle or whatever is attached to a power level. A power level is granted. You get higher power levels as you upgrade your characters, as you complete missions, as you upgrade your base, and so on and so forth. I got somewhere like 1.98 million, which I thought was a lot. I thought that was like a lot.
Speaker 2:In my guild I was like over a million higher than the next person. It wasn't even my guild, I just happened to, you know, have the flu and be home all day, so I was able to rack that up. And then I found out that in like the pvp, like world, like map, anyone could attack my base. I was just like, okay, you're gonna take my resources, that's fine. But no, they took my literal power level away from me, like the, the thing that I had been working towards. I was so confused. I was just like wait, how is this guy with 40 million power literally just going to smaller players and just like taking their power level. Like how did that math work out? Like what exactly is being taken away from my accomplishments that this guy is like stealing my? Anyway, I peaced out like then, and there I just rage, quit the game, like Dakota's.
Speaker 1:No way, the game like no way I went.
Speaker 2:I went from like I went from like 1.98 million power levels, which took me like a week and a half, to like 1.6, in a matter of like minutes, and I was just like this is ridiculous. This is absolutely like the most frustrating thing I've ever seen. So I quit it. And then, like a week later, like this past week, a new game came out, a new mobile game that I was just like all right, this has been in gestation for a while. I, you know, I signed up for it a long time ago, let's give it a shot. I turn it on. It was Avatar Realms Collide. So it was like an Avatar the Last Airbender. It wasn't canon in any way. Like it brings characters from all eras together Dude, it was the exact same game. Eras together dude, it was the exact same game. I'm not even joking, it was the exact same game. It's a base builder, it's a quest sender, it's like a character upgrader. It's literally every single, like everything was the same, and I was just like there's no way that this is the same developer.
Speaker 2:It was the same developer they released like two games in the span of two weeks from like two of my favorite ips, and they both suck, they both suck and they both have that mechanic where you can steal someone else's power level. How stupid is that?
Speaker 1:I, I don't want to fell for it twice no, I didn't.
Speaker 2:I didn't give it a chance okay I only played maybe a couple hours if that yeah, I just wanted to see, like, how different it was and it was exactly the same. So that was frustrating. But you know, on topic of what we're covering today, I also jumped back into baldur's gate 3 rich. Did you ever play baldur's Gate?
Speaker 3:I actually didn't get a chance to you know what, After today or after watching the movie, I think I'm more apt to do it.
Speaker 1:I think you'd like it. If you like Baldur's Gate, there's a few other games that you would probably like that are made by that same company that made Baldur's Gate 3.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Larian did a phenomenal job with this game. It was an easy contender and it did win Game of the Year. I think not this past year, I think 2023. It won.
Speaker 1:They also have these games called Divinity and they play very similarly, but they're also very good games.
Speaker 2:So what Baldur's Gate 3 is you don't need any information about, like what happened in baldur's gate 1 and 2 right, but it takes place in one of the play settings in the dungeons and dragons, like multiverse, so in dungeons and dragons you can choose what setting you want your adventure to take place in. There's a ton of you could. There's millions of like homebrew, you know like you can make up your world and set all your characters in this setting. But the most popular since, like the eighties, has been the forgotten realms, and that's what Baldur's Gate three takes place in, as well as honor among thieves, the movie that we watched today, so it's in that setting, usually within the forgotten realms, it takes place on the continent of feyroon, on the west coast, which is the sword coast.
Speaker 2:So the entirety of baldur's gate 3, as well as the entirety of the movie that we're going to be discussing later, all take place on the sword coast of the forgotten realms. So there is like a shared identity, even though the stories are completely different.
Speaker 2:You don't really get a grasp of the gameplay style in the movie because it's being played not as a game, but like as if this were a reality you know, so, whereas honor among thieves is a story being told to you with characters that are unique and all that, baldur's gate 3 is you playing a dnd setting with pre-built characters oh, okay, that makes sense so what's great about baldur's gate 3 is that there's kind of like infant, like an infinitude of like possible endings and possible paths you can choose based on your decisions. So it's not like you know, back in the day they used to make the telltale games where you had.
Speaker 2:You had the perception of choice. There was no real choice. Maybe there was on like a couple things, but most decisions led you to the same conclusion. This game is completely different. You can have an entirely different experience and gameplay and story than I do, just based on the decisions that you make in not only like dialogue, but how well you roll each oh yeah, wow, so all right so there's I.
Speaker 2:I cheat a little bit in the sense that, like I have a lot just random saves, I'm like I know something big is about to happen. Let me just save this just in case I don't like the outcome.
Speaker 1:Yeah dang, Not to go to the save scummer.
Speaker 2:I'm a save scummer for sure, but yeah, I'm really enjoying Baldur's Gate. I played it a little bit when it first came out and there's a multiplayer aspect to it, like you can play with two to four people on the same screen oh like, which is pretty cool, or you could do it online as well, but the actual game is not online, so you're not going to be interacting with other players if you don't want to nice.
Speaker 3:Perfect, because that's the one thing that I think for me. I play dragons, dogma, and you kind of just like see randos, and sometimes they would just kind of be annoying and I'm just like get away. I don't want that.
Speaker 2:What I will say is the game is extremely hard, like frustratingly hard at certain times. Like you're, like man, I really want to beat this boss guy. I got to restart the game.
Speaker 3:Oh no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I totally missed that shot I missed like five shots in a row.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm gonna die, yeah, so, um, it's a lot of that. Yeah, it has the whole fun element of rolling a d20 and just like, yeah, man, just critical hits critical hits and also critical failures.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a really fun game and I'm I'm only 20 to 25 hours in, I think, so I'm still in act one. There's three acts and you know people have saved files that are like well over 400, 500 hours on the game, so like there's so much to do. But yeah, I'm, I'm really excited to keep playing that, also because I like the dnd world. I think it's such a cool setting yeah um, but, but yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:I think that's what I've been up to. Oh, I've been watching the crown, which is really good. Like I mean, I didn't think it wasn't going to be a good show, but like it's based on the history of modern day royalty in britain and the lives and crazy stories that they've had since the 50s and 60s all the way. Like I'm in the, I'm in the late 90s now, like princess diana just died, oh so yeah, it's six seasons, but it's a really, really engaging show and, I think, mostly historically accurate, aside from, like the private conversations like two characters have that there's no possible way that the show knows what they said. You know so. So that kind of stuff is you got to take with a grain of salt, but that's cool as well. As White Lotus, this season is so good. I don't know if you guys have ever watched White Lotus, but like it's like it's on my list.
Speaker 1:It's on my list. I heard it's really good.
Speaker 2:It's just the most stressful hour of television every week but's so engaging and it's like an addiction, like you need to know what these idiots on screen get up to. But so, basically, the premise of white lotus it's kind of like an anthology series where the first season follows three or four different groups of individuals in a resort called the white lotus in hawaii. The second season has different people but they're at a resort in italy and now this season is in a resort in thailand and it's completely different cast and characters, but there's one person each season. That ties back to past seasons. So there is is an overarching thread, but it's nuts. Every season ends with the worst possible thing happening at these resorts. So far, each season one or two people have died, you know, and you're kind of like guessing who's going to do it or what's going to happen, and these people get into like the craziest stuff ever. It's honestly just extremely good TV.
Speaker 2:So I'm a big fan of White Lotus. This season has been really fun. I think there's two more episodes left. I should be an eight episode season. So anyway, that's what I've been up to. I had a lot to say this time. Sorry, rich, I'm going to throw it over to you. What have you been up to?
Speaker 3:I don't know. I'm kind of like in this dead mode before baseball starts. I've been lowering myself to watching spring training baseball games, which is oof.
Speaker 3:If you want to feel like you threw your life away just watch a spring training baseball game. But luckily most of them are at one o'clock and I happen to have a break for about an hour before I teach my next class at that time and I'm usually by myself, so I can just kind of tune in and zone out a little bit, do some grading. I've been watching daredevil, I've been keeping up on it, so, through episode four, I'm really loving it. I think it's fantastic. I think it's one of the best marvel shows they've made. I know that I normally am not very, you know, I don't really don't have a problem with a lot of the content, you know. But I mean, secret wars was summarily bad, but I can't say like, oh no, this was good, there was nothing good about that and I feel like it was a waste of my time. But I'm really I'm loving it. I mean, I think part of it's their fisk is so good. What's his name?
Speaker 3:the, the, the roach alien, the bug alien from denafrio there we go, yeah, yeah I just remember him as the bug alien from Men in Black, from Men in Black. It's crazy that he looks so different.
Speaker 2:I know In that movie.
Speaker 3:I don't know how he was making it look like he really wasn't His skin wasn't his. It was just unbelievable it was a crazy performance.
Speaker 3:We should have seen this coming. We should have known back then that this guy was going to be great. If this coming, we should have known back then this guy was going to be great. So if you're not watching daredevil, go watch daredevil. I highly recommend, highly recommend it.
Speaker 3:And then, of course, I finally did get my hands on mlb the show. So I have been a complete degenerate. I'm confident that nobody from her job is listening, so I clearly was not at work the day it came out for early release. I gave myself a mental health day. I did have to monitor. I did have to monitor. To be fair, I had to monitor like some work stuff, and it was just way easier if I didn't have to be in the building because it was like digital. So like I know it sounds weird because I'm a teacher, but anyway I had to do that stuff, so it was way easier to be at home.
Speaker 3:And then you, you know, mlb the Show twisted my arm a bit, so it's been great. I mean, there's nothing like having. I don't know if you guys know who this is. His name is Juan Soto. He used to play for the Yankees, but he's going to be a Met for the next 15 years and probably bring home at least three World Series. There's nothing like playing a game and having like the best guy on your team, and it's not because you had to start a franchise and like mortgage everything or like force trade like so, anthony, there's there's a meta conversation happening right now where rich is deeply trying to get me into being a Mets fan and I said you need at least a couple World Series before like.
Speaker 2:I can even consider that, but all right.
Speaker 3:So we're starting off here and I'm hoping that if I win in the game, I can just send Dakota screenshots of the Mets winning the World Series, and that'll confuse me.
Speaker 2:You'll be like whoa what?
Speaker 3:That's crazy. It's March. Man, how did you get that footage?
Speaker 1:You'll confuse them into being a fan, and I tried with baseball. I couldn't get into it In New.
Speaker 2:York. It's a different beast. I will say that it is like the water cooler sport out here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was it? Miami? I mean, we have a team down here, but baseball is just not our thing.
Speaker 2:Right, it's not, it isn't. Yeah, and I get it Well I mean.
Speaker 1:It doesn't help that your team?
Speaker 3:your team decides like hey, you know what we should do Get rid of all the good guys Like the Marlins just will stack up and have a squat. They won the world series and then the next year the guy just literally sold everybody away and nobody was there. So that's good business.
Speaker 1:And you guys don't even have do you guys have a dome is alone. Does the loan it's loan Depot park by by you right? No, there's, there's something like I, I know, I, I know what the? I don't even know the name of the stadium, I just know that you know I'll drive by and be like, oh yeah, I think that's where the marlins play yeah, it's probably.
Speaker 3:I'm a degenerate and I have in my water bottle. So it's lone depot park. It's a different beast and I will tell you. I will say one thing if you haven't watched baseball in the last two years, have you watched in the last two years?
Speaker 1:yeah, I've watched the like. I've tried to watch a couple games. Dude, my brain cannot like, like like, because it's too slow moving for me.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, it's too slow moving for me. Like I have to, it's got. There's got to be movement. There has to be movement. Like I watch f1, there's always something going on. F1 um, I even like basketball. There's a lot of like back and forth. You know, I'm even like trying to like hop into hockey because there's a lot of back and forth. I'm gonna be honest with you, even like football kind of takes me out of a little bit because even that moves a little too slow for me yeah, I will.
Speaker 2:I, I agree with the football. What I like about mlb is that it is psychological and you could see when the players are in their head. They're in their own head or you know, like the other team is like wheedling their way into their subconscious, like gameplay and stuff it's. It's actually kind of interesting in that respect. But yeah, no, I, I do. I understand, because I felt the exact same way that you did anthony for most of my life, pretty much until we decided to start going to games and you get into it. I challenge you.
Speaker 3:Anthony, I'm going to come down to Miami. I'm not lying, this is not a joke. I'm secretly playing a trip to Miami on September 27th and 28th. I'm whispering because I don't want my wife to hear this. It happens to be the last series of the year. I'm whispering because I don't want my wife to hear this. It happens to be the last series of the year and if the Mets playoff hopes are in doubt that weekend, I guarantee you that. I have already looked at flights. I'm thinking about flying into Fort Lauderdale and then going to a game with my son Just my son, not bring my wife and then just fly back home Sunday. So just lock it in there, baby. Look atota's face okay for y'all.
Speaker 1:For for those of y'all who can't see dakota, like while while rich was rattling that off. Dakota was like just come. He was like stunned, like is this really being said?
Speaker 2:this is nuts anyway. Oh man, that was good. All right, boys, let's talk about. Sorry rich, did you have anything else that you want to talk about?
Speaker 3:no, no, it's just like besides detailing your secret plans. Well, I will. Just, it's just because my wife bought me a water bottle and it has every stadium and it comes with a vinyl sticker and these are amazing. They don't come off, like once it's on the bottle, like nothing can take it off, essentially, so you know you can wash it, whatever. It's fantastic.
Speaker 3:And then whenever you go to a stadium, you put the sticker on the bottle okay, so it's, it's a challenge yes, my, and it's a contract my wife gave me, which was really just not great thinking on her part, because no that's. That means that I have to complete this right, and that's why for her, and that's yeah, I'm doing it for her. I'm doing, I'm doing this for my family, so you, know.
Speaker 2:That's why I'm making. This is a sacrifice.
Speaker 3:You have to make the trip down to to anthony and you know we'll go to lone depot park. You know if I'm in, if I'm in miami, you don't come with me. I'm gonna say you know what I thought there was honor among podcasters.
Speaker 1:Dang that honor among podcasters, not trying to drag me into a baseball game.
Speaker 2:Oh God, all right. Shall we jump into the next segment of our show?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we shall Do it. Dakota. Is that what I think it is what.
Speaker 2:No for the sponsor of today's show. I'm cracking open a Slim Jim oh yeah, Snap into a Slim Jim Dakota.
Speaker 1:I just see you feeling something and I'm like this man does not have a Slim Jim in his hand right now. Now he's taking it to like Didn't you say, you haven't had a Slim Jim in years and now you have one.
Speaker 2:I have one in my mouth as we speak. I will say it's not as juicy as I remembered, but if you're reviewing our podcast right now, please be sure to give us a nice juicy five-star rating. Juicier than a Slim Jim. Please Not this dry meat stick.
Speaker 1:Dude, I'm done. Dakota took the bit even further with an actual slim gem and is actively choking on the dryness of it yeah, I'll eat the rest of it later.
Speaker 2:I do enjoy the taste, it's just it is a little dry. Guys, we're discussing Dungeons and Dragons, honor Among Thieves, with a pretty stacked cast yeah we have a lot of big names. Actually, hold on, I'm going to pull this up, I guess, before I jump into the whole cast thing. Rich, this being your first, I think, entry point into Dungeons Dragons, I'm curious what you think.
Speaker 3:So you know I'm starting to see a little bit of pattern here. First we did it with Ghibli film. I think you guys are getting your druthers picking stuff that I have absolutely no idea what's going on before I put it on, because I have actively avoided Dungeons and Dragons my entire life. It's a choice.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3:This is a. Like I said at a certain point, I was collecting too much nerddom.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so you needed to draw a line in the scene.
Speaker 3:I had the wrestling, I had the Star War, I had a lot of stuff, and I just felt like that was going to be a dividing line that none of my friends wanted to. You know, to be clear, none of my friends growing up play it. So it wasn't like it was even a thing in my neighborhood or anything like that, it just was a thing that I kind of had heard about and never really explored. My friends kind of implied, like if you go down, basically what they said was you're going down a path I can't follow. All right, and know I was like, oh no, but instead of choking my friend, I I listen to them. You know other than the 20-sided dice and then stranger things, right.
Speaker 3:So, for example, dakota's wife runs dungeons, dragons at school and I will. Samara runs it in the same classroom that I teach in last period. So often the kids will come in and as I walk out I'm just like, uh, demogorgon I love, I just yell like d20, like I just yell random stuff that I know because I know nothing. I know nothing. So, cantrip, I start watching this movie and I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I'm not. I'm like eh, you like what's? I don't know. I don't know anything about it. I can only describe my love for this movie as comparable to the first pirates of the Caribbean, which I talked to you guys about earlier. Wow.
Speaker 2:You know like.
Speaker 3:I the fact that there aren't five of these. I'm so angry Like it's a rip roaring good time you don't have to know, and I don't understand how it didn't make money, because that's one of those movies that you just go to for a good time. Like that should have been a movie that people were like, hey, what are you doing this weekend? Go see dungeons and dragons. Like you don't need to know anything beforehand and I'm sure that if you know tons of dragons, dungeons, dragon stuff, there are so many eas Easter eggs that make you smile.
Speaker 3:And I couldn't identify any of those and still I loved it. I loved Edwin. I didn't. I loved Holga Helga, no, holga, holga and Edgin Edgin. Yeah, holga, you know Michelle Rodriguez is the actress. She's perfectly cast in that role. When I think of of, if you have to put a female lead who's like a real ass kicker, I choose her every day of the week. She's fantastic. So I thought the acting was great there. I I just topped up and it was really just fun and and it was, like you said, star studded. I just don't even understand how you. The plot's really easy to follow. I don't think it's convoluted. I don't think there's anything complicated Like. This is one of those just really fun popcorn movies that I almost Like. Honestly, if you're listening to this and you're like, hey, I didn't like it, I don't know what's wrong with you. Maybe you shouldn't listen to the podcast anymore. I'm sorry, gents, I know that you guys have been doing this longer than I have, but, hot damn, I love that movie good.
Speaker 2:No, that's exactly the response that everyone should basically have when watching this movie yeah so I I did look it up. I do think it made back its box office, but it just didn't perform well enough that it was worth that risk, I guess so, isn't it? Wild, though, like this thing 208 million on a budget of 150 million, and it's wild because it you know it's certified fresh.
Speaker 1:It made it's 91% on rotten tomatoes.
Speaker 2:I think everyone loved it yeah.
Speaker 1:I think, like pretty much, like most, pretty much most reviewers loved that movie. I think what the problem might be is that, even with the whole Stranger Things thing kind of bringing a bit of a resurgence to D&D, I think that there's still a little bit of a stigma with D&D. You know, like some people still kind of see it as, like you know, that it's like that last line of of nerdiness that they just don't want to cross over, very similar in a way that, like you know rich right, you know rich was like you know that I've got to draw a line somewhere and D&D is it, you know. So that's a lot of people. I mean.
Speaker 1:Dude, I talked to one of my friends. You know her and her husband. They run an anime, geeky, like a geeky anime and like board game shop, right, and her husband, like you know he's all about you know stuff like D&D and different board games and stuff, and she's like I'm not doing that, like that's like just deep nerdiness, and I'm like I'm like, oh my God, I was like you're already like in the thick of it with the nerdiness. Like what, what?
Speaker 2:like D and D is like literally your life. You've got a shop.
Speaker 1:I'm like D and D is like not like you're not even going any deeper with D and D. It's like there, you know, um, yeah, but but yeah. So I I think that you know that there is a little bit of like a stigma with it. You know, even though it was such a, it was such a like fun film. I loved it, dude, like when it was in in theaters. I definitely went back to see it. I know I saw it at least twice, but I'm pretty sure that there might have been a third time in there, but I definitely saw it twice nice, you have done your duty, soldier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I don't remember how many times I saw it. I might have only seen it the one time in theaters. No, no I, I definitely saw it twice because I made a video timeline about it, so I definitely was present for multiple viewings. But yeah, that was a real heartbreak, like that. It just was not seen, you know, and everybody online was just like on Twitter. It's like once a week what's a movie that deserves a sequel and it will always like pop up as like number one or like the most quote tweeted.
Speaker 1:It's just the most fun like in a movie theater that I've had in a long time I I agree, and one of the biggest things that I love about this dnd movie is that, like you know, because I do have the full kind of relationship with dnd, like you know, actually like playing in it. I mean, I haven't done any dming but I, you know, I'm in a in a weekly session and so, like you know, I know how like playing dnd is, like you know, just kind of the zaniness of it, and this movie was like watching a dnd session. It was like all of the like you know, the successes, the failures, like some of the like you know, kind of trip ups, you know a lot of stuff that happened in it.
Speaker 2:Like it makes you think, like dude, this is something that you would experience playing dnd, you know the best example of like the zaniness that you can get into with dnd kind of even stems from just like the beginning of the game or beginning the beginning of the movie, where you have edgan and holga trying to break free from prison while in that like like meeting to, like you know, go over their case, which is such a funny scene the Aarakocra named Jarnathan, not Jonathan Jarnathan it's so funny, but that is something that you can picture D&D players coming up with. Oh, can I inspect the room? Yeah, you have a large circular window behind you. You have four judges on a table in front of you. What do you do? I take the judge with wings and I run towards the window, try to survive. That's something that you would do in.
Speaker 1:D&D.
Speaker 2:Also the fact that you know, holga, she didn't have any weapons, but she had a potato. And she started, she's still like potatoes.
Speaker 1:Dude, I, I, I loved, I, love that scene so much and then, literally like after that, they're like we granted your appeal, yeah. We granted your approval oh my gosh, Like dude, like they, like I'm telling you straight up like dnd, and like the fact that there was like a fat dragon in there oh, so yeah I loved it so much I, I couldn't.
Speaker 3:As I saw that dragon, I'm like I'm staring at it and I'm going that is one of the weirdest design, because I don't get what's wrong with it right. I just see it come out, because you just see the chubby cheeks.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I'm like what, and I literally got closer to the TV and I've seen, you know, tons of dragon representations in my time, from Smaug to. I can't remember the guy who called me Dovah King in Skyrim but Parthenax or something like that, I who called me Dovah King in Skyrim but Parthenax or something like that. I've had a close relationship with many and actually one of my favorite versions is if you ever played the mod. There was a mod that turned every dragon in Skyrim into ooh yeah, macho man, randy.
Speaker 1:Savage. Oh yeah, I saw that. I saw that it gives it. It's like the head.
Speaker 3:And the hat it gives him the hat like the cowboy and the hat it gives them like the hat.
Speaker 3:It's so, so great. So that dragon cracked me up because it was like a slow reveal and you know. And then you then you see, like a real dragon later on. At first I was like, are this, are these just what D&D dragons look like? And I was like, man, these guys really have no imagination. Like that dragon can't even fly. But then you had a proper dragon later. There's just so many. That's what's so great about this. It's just there are so many little things that were inviting. I almost think that if they just called it Honor Among Thieves, it would have broke the box office.
Speaker 2:You think so? Yeah, you think it's the title of Dungeons Dragons that like really held it back A hundred percent. I think that Anthony was a hundred percent on it.
Speaker 3:I saw it and I was like, hey, that looks fun, but there's no chance I'm going to the theater to see it. I have no reason, because I honestly didn't even. I wasn't even like Dungeons Dragons. That's too nerdy for me. It was like Dungeons Dragons I don't know anything about that right, like why would I want to go see that if I know? Like for me, I don't know and I don't know if it's comparable. I'm just wondering about certain things. But like the Resident Evil movies, you know, I think sometimes some of those franchises what actually becomes a little bit prohibitive for those who are not involved in it at all. It's like they just feel a little bit overwhelmed with the idea of going into this and not knowing, just being left in the dark.
Speaker 1:Well, my thing is well, with those movies they literally had the source material and just threw it out the window. With D&D you can kind of create any sort of story, and you know that's what this is. You know they really lean into the fact that you can create your own story within this world. There's nothing holding it back unless, like, you're kind of like you're trying to purposely like desecrate it. You know it's really hard to like. You know mess up. You know, like this, this world that you know already kind of exists. You know the backdrop's already there. You just kind of fill it in with. You know characters and you know characters that fit very well. You know the this group is very, very much so a ragtag group that you would have like with your group of friends playing dnd. You know you have like this, you know sorcerer, who, simon, who can like like you know he fails or like not really good like this is somebody that probably consistently rolls like under a 10.
Speaker 2:You know, on a d20 and his stats are all, like you know, single digit stats exactly.
Speaker 1:And then, like you know, you have Edgan, who's the bard that like know he's really like there for just like moral support. Even though like bards can actually get really like involved in D&D and some can have like magical aspects to them, also have like very, I like that you don't have to guess what type of like role they are against the bard hoga is the um is yeah, she's a barbarian.
Speaker 2:You know, simon is a sorcerer, you have, oh my gosh, yeah, yeah, dork, that's uh the druid, and so what I like about those like core four characters is that the classes don't necessarily complement each other at all but the characters do you know, like so and that's kind of the whole thing with dnd. Like you don't necessarily have to like when you're building your characters with your party, you don't have to like make characters that are that will complement another character. You will just figure out ways to overcome challenges with your unique set of abilities that you each collectively have. You know, and I think that that is really showcased well in this movie yeah, yeah, no, I, absolutely I.
Speaker 1:I like you have zinc who is pretty much like he's a paladin. Yeah, he's a paladin and a dude.
Speaker 3:I loved his character so much like how literal he was now when, when he finally comes at the end, like, is he still walking in that straight line from when we left him earlier?
Speaker 1:oh my gosh, when he like walks straight and he just like, instead of walking around the rock, yeah, he walks like over it and then like I think like one of my like favorite lines of him was like edgan's, like you know, oh, I don't trust this guy. He's got something in his sleeve and then he's like the only thing I have in my sleeves are my arms and then the brain creatures intellect of ours yes, yes, and he's like.
Speaker 1:You know, the higher the intellects you know like they'll like devour you and they just like bypass them all what's?
Speaker 2:what's crazy is I I restarted balder's gate 3 recently and it starts with you either like befriending or like not befriending an intellect devourer. Yeah, you know, like you could either kill it on the spot or you could let it like guide you through the tutorial. Yeah, so that that's pretty cool. Going back to the dragon, what's cool? Like there's certain things that they just totally made up for the movie. Like there's concepts that they totally made up that they later put in the game, like the frozen prison wasn't a thing in like dnd, canon or lore, but they added it after the movie. But one thing that was there was the dragon Thambershod and he was always a big boy, like in other books and games. But I guess this takes place a little bit after that timeline-wise, so they just blew him up even more for this movie, which is just hilarious. They're like we already got a chubby dragon, let's make it chunky.
Speaker 1:I really liked when they were going to the. It was the Under, underdark, yes, and they had this whole crazy sequence with a bridge and Simon steps on a piece and completely takes down the whole like a piece, like incompletely, like takes down I love, I love that zank is like it's quite simple really, and then he starts like detailing this like 30 step plan to get across the bridge in quick succession.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's so good, it's yeah, it's so wild and then I like that they have a.
Speaker 1:Um, what was it? Because my party has one, a Hither Thither Staff. Oh, do you have?
Speaker 2:a Hither Thither Staff. Yeah, we have one, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So they're like oh, this is Hither, Thither Staff.
Speaker 2:I'm just like you know, I did the whole Leo DiCaprio pointing at the screen, that's cool I think the hither thither step was also one of those items that they added to the game after the movie, like on dnd beyond, which is like the online portal where you can like basically collect all your your source books and all your character sheets and everything. They added like five or six new sheets of like lore and character, like npc stuff for the characters in the game or the characters in the movie, as well as like certain items like the helmet of disjunction, like that as a new item that basically they just added to the dnd lore that you can use in your games. I don't think the hither. I'm not sure about the hither thither stuff, but I think it hither.
Speaker 1:I I'm not sure about the hither thither stuff, but I think it began in honor among thieves. You know what's crazy is that, like in the dnd session that I'm in, like we were also like in a realm called hither. Oh really, yeah we're, we're in the, we're in the fey wild oh, that's really cool yeah yeah, dude, it's, it's a lot of like stuff that's going on right now.
Speaker 1:No-transcript. We all like barely like we're barely like scraping behind them and like the last session we had, we fought like two really crazy things like back to back and one of our people died actually. Oh yeah, I almost did too.
Speaker 2:I was like Did they have to create a new character?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so. I think they're going to have to. That sucks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a new character? Um, yeah, I think so. I think they're gonna have to. That sucks. Yeah, I'm like is the dm gonna allow them to like level up the?
Speaker 1:character to your party's? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure so rich in.
Speaker 2:In dnd there is a level of so, like in balder's gate 3, you can always restart or like go to a load or whatever. But with Dungeons and Dragons, the board game, you could be playing this character for like two years, three years, and then all of a sudden you get a really bad day and an enemy just decreases your, your health to zero, and then you have to commit to certain saving throws and if you don't, your character dies yeah, there are ways around that if, if, if the dm, if the dungeon master decides, you know, like there's a way to bring your character back or he wants to like, do, like an like an afterlife sort of campaign for your character to come back or something.
Speaker 2:But there's always a way around it right right like, but a lot of dms are very hard and fast on, like your character died, that's it yeah, yeah, and then it was like the.
Speaker 1:Actually a cool thing, though, too, is that like, if you throw, so if you're rolling a d20 and if you land on a 20 on your like death saves, you actually revive with one hp oh I, I would be, I, I would be absolutely furious if my character died after a number of years, like I don't even I don't know what to tell.
Speaker 3:Like I would have to go on vacation or something after that. Like it would make me rageful to dedicate my time to. I didn't know that that could happen. Like that's even, oh man. Like I actually was talking about possibly playing one day the threat of my character dying. I don't know what I would do. I don't know what I would do.
Speaker 1:Even, even in critical role, even it doesn't happen often. Even in critical happen often, but but yeah so yeah, go ahead and explain that one even in critical role, like these people are playing their characters for like years and like their characters will die. It's not, uh, you know, like they, they, you know, and sometimes it's like it's always a good idea to have like a backup, you know, and then you know, here for our ad break, you know from our sponsor.
Speaker 2:Look, I have this open Slim Jim right in front of me.
Speaker 3:I got to eat by the way, I have it on good word that Dakota has already had three hot dogs today, and now he's still eating the Slim Jim that is so much processed meat, friend.
Speaker 1:But he had to because it's our non-existent sponsor. That's right.
Speaker 3:I heard it's way better if you just drop it on the floor of a track facility and just eat it off the floor. It actually adds a little bit of flavor, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Rich, oh yeah, is that Okay? Adds a little seasoning? Yeah, just a bit, Just a bit.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:That AstroTurf dust, oh man, anyway, yeah, so let's talk a little bit about this cast, because it's pretty stacked. Yeah, so we have Chris Pine in the main character role of Edgern Darvis. He does a phenomenal job of just mixing the camp with the heart, yeah, and I think he's like that for pretty much every role he's in, which is it's perfect for him, you know, but he just embodies this bard character for him, you know, but he just embodies this bard character. And what I love about the campiness is that the people on screen don't seem to sense the campiness. Like he'll just start us, like he'll just jump into a song and it just entrances people around him. Like holga of all people you would think like and you gotta, you gotta stop, you know, but no, like she would like jump into the song as well, like I love that about you know the their characters.
Speaker 2:But yeah, you have michelle rodriguez as holga, the barbarian justice smith as simon the sorcerer yeah, I've seen him in several things yeah, and he is an also another actor that kind of always plays a certain role, but this felt fresh even for that, so I like that. And of course, hugh grant as forge fitzwilliam, he's probably one of my favorite characters, just because he's so deliciously evil, I guess like I don't think he's actually like oh well, like he plays that, he's not he's not malicious, he's just in it for himself, he's roguish and he's in it for himself that's his class, he's, he is a rogue.
Speaker 3:Oh yes, yeah yes, oh, that's that. See, he reminds me so much of barbosa from the part. I'm sorry, I love those pirates movies, but no, you know, but bring it, bring it right back. Like barbosa was like that, that you knew he was the bad guy, but you're like but I kind of like him, I enjoy him being like that, and I just think.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, no, jeffrey Rush was just. I mean, look, he was one of my favorites in those series too.
Speaker 3:So here it's just. I think you got hugh grant doing the kind of the same thing. You know, he's just there. There's no one in this movie. That it's really fun.
Speaker 3:It's also kind of fun to like watch a movie about good versus evil where, like the evil's not that depressing, you know, like I could deal with forge's evil. I'm like yeah, yeah, all right. You know a lot of it has to do with the way grant plays it. You know there's still a charm charm there. You know where you. You know you want to be like oh, maybe I'm just misinterpreting. It's like no, no, he's a bad guy, but that's kind of what he does. I don't know how many actors you put in that role. That would pull it off as well, you know. And obviously the acts I don't know. I mean this is about my bias, right, but or I mean a lot of time when you get these period pieces. You know when you're setting these medieval, you need to have the british accent, you know. So like I think grant having that also kind of really helps it out yes, and it definitely worked, with his character being basically the ruler of Neverwinter.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just again, just deliciously evil. We also have Daisy Head as Sophina, who I'm not familiar with and, honestly, like I'm looking at her like profile picture on Google and I recognize her, knowing that this character played the Red Witch, but I wouldn't If this person was standing right in front. But I I wouldn't if if this person was standing right in front of me and I wasn't thinking about this movie, I would never.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But Sophia who played Doric, I would definitely recognize her. I just don't have that like recognition yet with her as an actress, but she did a fantastic job as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh dude, I loved Bradley Cooper Marlaman, but she did a fantastic job as well. Yeah, oh dude, I loved bradley cooper marlin.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh, I love that.
Speaker 1:What did you think?
Speaker 2:of? What did you think of? What did you think of halfling bradley cooper?
Speaker 3:I, I wish we had more. I mean I you know, I mean bradley.
Speaker 3:He's, you know, I mean he's kind of almost, in some ways, forever rocket. You know, I think that having him be a shorter character was I mean, I'm hoping it was a little bit of a nod to that. I just think he's great on camera and he's great as a voice actor. It doesn't matter what you do with him. I just think that he's got that kind of his comedic timing is just excellent. I don't know, I think, like I said, I mean we need to have a second one, that he's got that kind of His comedic timing is just excellent. You know, and he, I don't know, I think, like I said, I mean we need to have a second one and we need him to be in it longer, like I want like full 20 minutes.
Speaker 2:And then him. I don't even think he was like a funny character, you know, Like I don't think he said anything that was particularly funny. It particularly funny, it was just the juxtaposition of Holga going to see her, her old husband, and it just happens to be tiny.
Speaker 1:Bradley Cooper, exactly Like it's the. The scene itself was funny and not really because of what was being said, but yeah, like you said, like you know what we were seeing on the screen and you know this like brawny woman, just you know she has this like affinity for smaller men, you know like, and you see that later on in the film too like that that's just her. You know, she's just. And and the thing is is that marlin man has a thing for bigger women.
Speaker 2:It's so random. Oh, I love it so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, that was awesome. I also liked the whole thing where they had to like they were looking for the helmet and they went to the graveyard to speak to the people. That is an actual.
Speaker 2:D&D thing the speak with the people and that is an actual dnd thing to speak with the dead, where you get five questions, I think that I'm trying to think if one of the people in my group have that.
Speaker 1:But dude, I thought that was like funny too. Like you know, when they like kind of found out what they needed, they're like oh okay, five questions, and then like then they like leave, like one of the guys like with four questions, oh man yeah, there's.
Speaker 2:There's some really, really cool scenes. I think that that particular sequence where they're showing flashbacks from 100 years ago like it's nothing, just because they have the ability to talk to dead and I love the first one where they're trying to like figure out how the five questions work and the thing is answering him very literally yes, yes, no, five, five more, or something like that. Yeah, I love that. Another scene that I really enjoyed, even though it doesn't really work like this in D&D, is the druid transformations. Realistically, you can only transform once each long rest, basically, so you'd never be able to in quick succession, turn from an owlbear into a fly, into a mouse, into a. You'd never get that opportunity in the actual game, but in the context of the movie it was such a fantastic scene where you know it had the illusion of a one shot take, even though it was just like heavily CGI'd over, but it was really cool the way they did that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I liked it and that whole sequence, how she like ended, she like ended she, she like left it like as a deer and then, and then hoga like was talking about, like her, turning into a deer earlier on, and then she just looks over at egg and was like oh so you did turn into a deer oh, my favorite line in the whole movie is my favorite.
Speaker 2:My favorite line in the whole movie is they're trying to figure out how to, like tell edgan's daughter that forge is lying to them. And hoga's like we can shoot an arrow into her room with a note and he's just like you'll hit my daughter. He's just like and she goes that's just a risk we're gonna have to take.
Speaker 1:That's my favorite line oh my gosh dude, like she says it straight face too, like it's just.
Speaker 2:There's so much like dry humor in this.
Speaker 1:That's just so good I like the part where, where they kind of like confront forge, like for the first time, like you know it's after they break out of, you know out of the tower and you know like forge, you know kind of like captures them. There's a couple moments in that one. The first was like the hot tea, the hot tea part, like way we laugh. And then like when, when sofina like put her finger in the cup, he's like I didn't think you're gonna put your finger in the cup. And and then like when he, when, uh, they, they, they captured it, and like they're about to get their heads chopped off, hoga's like just like, oh, that she's like going over this, like whole thing about this battle axe, and like how he like cleans I know obviously it's like it's a diversion, but it's so funny because it's so, like, specific too and like I think it was a genuine interest.
Speaker 1:Also because, like after, she like just whoops down on it, like on all of them, with no help from edgan, except for, like at the end where he like hits one in the face, but like he was there for moral support, she's like, oh, we need to get some.
Speaker 1:And he's like, I know, I know um lindsey doyle yes, dude, that was, yeah, like there's just so many like little moments that I like a lot, because the thing about dnd is like there's a lot of grand moments but sometimes there's like little mini moments that happen also that, like you know, we'll be in between like things happening and like in our travels. You know, in my sessions the DM will be, like you know, roll a D20 and we'll see if you like have an encounter and, like you know, it's like those minor moments that kind of happen that don't really affect too much of the greater story. Sometimes it can, but a lot of times it doesn't. But you know, I just felt like a lot of that charm was also captured in this film and, dude, I find it insane that like we haven't covered it in all this time.
Speaker 2:It's like been yeah, it's been two years later yeah, I do think that there's a dungeons and dragons tv show that's coming out I think that's in the works.
Speaker 1:And then there's's also a D&D episode for Secret Level.
Speaker 2:Explain what Secret Level is for those of our audience.
Speaker 1:So we've talked about Secret Level a couple times. Secret Level is an anthology series and it takes different IPs, like different video games, and makes an episode out of it. There's one for D&D, there's one for Warhammer out of it, there's one for dnd, there's one for like warhammer, there's one for, like pac-man, megaman. You know like they took different ips, they made, like you know, episodes for them, and so dnd is one of those, those ips that they made an episode for and then, yeah, they're actually a go for a second season. They did pretty well with People reviewed it pretty well, so you definitely should hop on it.
Speaker 2:So Sean Levy, the guy behind Stranger Things, is actually producing Netflix's Dungeons Dragons show.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that could be cool. Yeah, and it is set in the Forgotten Realms, just like Baldur's Gate, just like aldersgate, just like honor among thieves, uh he must have been a dnd fan to incorporate that in I think so probably yeah, because, like stranger things didn't have to like it wasn't essential, it was just like uh, it was the charm of the show.
Speaker 2:So he didn't. I don't think he wrote Stranger Things, but he was involved in some of the bigger episodes, like the Vecna episode where they were coming after Max. Oh, okay, he directed that one. He directed Deadpool 3. So he's got some big names under his belt. But yeah, he's been around D&D through the Duffer brothers and stranger things. But I don't know necessarily if, like, like how dp is. Obviously, I mean if he's, if he's connected to the netflix dungeons and dragons show, like I'm assuming yeah, he has some this is his like second show.
Speaker 1:That's got some like dnd influence, so right, oh yeah any last thoughts on dungeons and dragons.
Speaker 2:Honor among thieves, guys.
Speaker 1:I feel there's a lot of thoughts. It's just, this is like one of those movies that you can always revisit, you know, and and just enjoy watching it. I like coming back to this. I've seen this movie, you know, a handful of times now and like watching it to do this episode. You know it didn't feel like a chore. It it was, you know, I mean well, most of the stuff, but like it was definitely like a joy to come back to it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, man, I think that if any of y'all have listened to this whole thing and have not seen the movie, there's a lot, obviously, that we didn't cover about it. You know, like the biggest thing being the story, you know it kind of shifts from Again trying to, like, you know, get his family back together, you know, save his wife His wife was killed and you know he's trying to, like you know, bring her back With this like tablet of reawakening and then so his priorities kind of shift Because there's a bigger thing happening with sofina. You know there's there's a lot to the story that we didn't talk too much about, more about like dnd as a whole and how this movie is influenced by it. But I think that it's worth watching. Even if you've listened to this without seeing the movie, definitely go see it and especially watch this. If you've listened to this without seeing the movie.
Speaker 2:Definitely go see it and especially watch this if you've never played Dungeons Dragons, because, like Rich said early on, you don't need any prior knowledge about any of the races, any of the characters, any of the factions within the film. You'll learn everything as you go. You'll learn about the Red Wizards of Fae, you'll learn about the Harpers, you'll learn about For you go. You'll learn about the, the red wizards of fey, you'll learn about the harpers, you'll learn about forge and neverwinter and you know the games that they play later on.
Speaker 1:It's all there and how they're connected and yeah, they do they do like really well motivations?
Speaker 2:yeah, no, I, I, I, 100 agree and all the graphics look fantastic and are fun to watch, and every character is enjoyable.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:One thing that you mentioned, anthony, was that this movie was highly influenced by D&D. I also think D&D was highly influenced by this movie because they changed not necessarily big rules or anything after this came out, but they added a lot of lore and stuff that the movie interjected into the wider world of playable Dungeons, dragons like NPCs and stuff. So it just opened up more doors for D&D and I think that that's pretty cool yeah.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:Rich, do you have any final thoughts on Dungeons Dragons?
Speaker 3:No, I just think that you should all go down to your local purveyor of snacks and you should buy yourselves a bunch of Slim Jims and go home and watch this movie. Like I just don't understand it. You know, maybe buy yourselves a potato just so you can just root along with helga. I, I, every. It's just. It's really great. And I'm almost, I'm going to be 43 in june and I can say that this movie and this episode kind of made me regret not getting into dungeons and dragons, but at the same time, if my character would have died, I might, might have been in prison. So probably better off, much better off, that I didn't actually ever get into it, but it does make me go like, wow, I've missed out on something that's truly, you know I love. You said the Forgotten Realm, forgotten right.
Speaker 3:Forgotten Realms, yeah, so that's the you know fable. I'm kind of getting old realms like. That's the you know fable. I'm kind of getting old like.
Speaker 2:But I love that medieval, european-y like world, you know it could if you ever played everquest back in the day, that was a dnd setting see I would. That was around the time of oh world of warcraft.
Speaker 3:That's the world of warcraft. Let's not even let's not even that's the one where mr t was on a commercial once for world of warcraft yeah, one point all right, so that's all right. See, I'm telling you, there was literally like when I saw warcraft, I think, I was like that's like a dnd thing. I gotta be careful, you know. Like oh, I mean, it's not, it's not dnd, but but I I really I'm glad, I'm very happy I got to watch this.
Speaker 2:Good. Good, I'm happy, I'm glad. All right, guys, be sure to give this podcast a five-star review, specifically a juicy one. Don't make it like my Slim Jim. I'm sure other Slim Jims are juicy, but this one didn't. It wasn't. It was a fairly dry Slim Jim, but I hope our show wasn't. I hope our show was juicy and worthy of your five-star review. So let us know if your podcast app allows you to review. Be sure to click down into our show notes to find out where you can find us on social media and we don't yet know what we're covering next week, but you will be the first to find out, either on our socials or by subscribing to the podcast and picking up next week. Anyway, guys, thank you. Have a great night, have a great day, wherever you are.
Speaker 3:Have a good one.
Speaker 2:Bye y'all, Slim Jim.
