Ten Movies That Resemble Tabletop Games!

You may have heard that Dungeons and Dragons is getting another movie treatment in the near future. There have been a number of critically unsuccessful attempts to bring the franchise to the silver screen, but this may well be the one that makes it. One big reason that it is difficult to translate the game into a cinematic experience is that there is no particular story to any pen and paper game beyond the one created by the players. Instead, a movie aimed at paying tribute to the genre should focus on recreating the dynamic of gameplay and player interaction in a fun narrative way. With this in mind, I would like to introduce my own list of movies that capture the "feel" of tabletop gaming. 

Firstly, let me break down the elements that I think are most iconic in role playing games. These are the creative choices that make a movie strongly resemble, say, a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. A movie doesn't have to include all of these elements to make the list, but these are the most commonly recognizable tropes.

• Starring an ensemble cast of characters, each with unique talents and specialization. 
• Delivering a sense of fantasy and wonder in a world that is unique and open to exploration. 
• The characters develop over time, and their personalities and skills grow over this period. 
• There is playful banter and a sense of camaraderie among the group, and they overcome challenges as a team. 
• The characters face a wide array of obstacles that test their abilities in combat, intrigue, and guile. The characters typically follow a clearly defined mission and their adventure is based around this direct goal. 
• The movie has a strong blend of comedy and action. 
• The movie ends with a sense of achievement and promise of future adventure.

"Let's get this adventuring party started"

With that being said, here is a list of my first top ten movies that are like tabletop RPGs:

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
A classic, oft reference icon of early nerd cinema. This very funny parody of Arthurian legend is one that infamously gets less entertaining as it is quoted by snarky players at the game table for the thousandth time. Still, the comedic quest with the knights of the round table, battling monsters and foes along the way, is a great example of a movie that reminds you of goofier moments playing games of Dungeons and Dragons.

2. The Lord of the Rings series
A classic Dungeons and Dragons inspiration, as we would not have the game of D&D today if not for author JRR Tolkien. The Fellowship travels through a number of epic encounters, splits the party, and completes an incredible quest. With their line up of rangers, halfling thieves, and even a wizard, the heroes from this movie could be considered the first  D&D adventuring party. In fact, one clever internet person has already depicted this in web-comic form and the results are hilarious!

3. The Princess Bride
Another supremely quotable movie that eventually ends up following a pair of swashbucklers, a giant, and a princess in a quest to defeat an evil monarch. With fantastical settings, clever contests of wits and strength, and the fact that the entire story is projected from the imagination of a child, it could just as easily be re-imagined as somebody's particularly humorous game night. The frequent anachronisms serve to make the comparison even more fitting!

4. The Fast and the Furious franchise

This one might seem like an odd choice at first, but this quote, originally attributed to a SomethingAwful forum user, makes it clear why this goes on the list. *Strong language warning*

It's also explicitly a D&D campaign, as confirmed by a Justin Lin interview posted some pages ago. The order in which I saw the movies was 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and going from 5 to 1 I was floored by how low-key everything was. But it's about escalation. Dom Toretto in Furious 6 is not the same person as Dom Toretto in TF&TF because he's leveled up from like 5 to 20-something. And there are things that are necessary to the process of leveling that far. There's the continuing growth and harmony of the adventuring party/family, and the acquisition and use of magic items/cars. Cars are not just a thing you drive fast in this series (Though it's kinda hilarious how there's the additional parallel of broadening scope of items. In TF&TF, the cars are super important but they don't really do much. They drive exclusively in straight lines, often badly, because these are just +2 Cars compared to the +5 Vorpal Holy Avenger Cars we get later) [Continued]

5. Guardians of the Galaxy
A great movie to showcase unlikely heroes who are each drastically different from one another. This one is all about the party! You have heroes who specialize in swords and melee, others who attack with firearms, some who are good at talking their way out of anything and others who are pure muscle and barely talk at all. A great example of the kind of variety and teamwork that is reminiscent of a fun campaign.

6. The Mummy movies
Monster encounters in caverns and tombs will be familiar to any RPG enthusiast, and this movie has that in spades. With its heroes dedicated to adventure and questing against evil, and the plethora of traps and lost chambers to explore, it sure feels at times like an old school dungeon delve!

7. Labyrinth
This one is all about the dungeon! Literally forced to traverse one herself on a quest to save her baby brother, Sarah recruits a number of other adventurers along the way. With riddles and puzzles and strange environments, this movie really captures the mood of a cleverly designed tabletop game level.

8. Gangster Squad
A lesser known recent film that manages to capture that same type of team dynamic found in others on this list. With car chases, gunfights, and other exciting encounters, this one follows a team of police on a mission to take down a mobster that could very well be the subject of a modern-day campaign.

9. Ocean's Eleven
The ultimate big team movie. With its huge ensemble cast of characters with unique specializations, it's great for showing how to give every player a role in adventure. Like Fast and Furious, the team grows and develops over time, and their collaborative achievements during the heists are very similar to the collaborative storytelling of tabletop gaming.

10. Jumanji
This is an obvious one of course, with its dice rolls for random encounters and the running theme of jungle dangers in a modern suburban setting. The new 'players' are even guided through the rules of the dangerous living board game by Robin Williams, the same way experienced players introduce people to their own favorite game.

Do you have any favorite movies that remind you of a tabletop RPG? Any that inspire you for your own games? Share your thoughts in the comment section! Happy ventures!