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With the very first edition of Dungeons & Dragons now over 50 years old, there's a multitude of stories out there that could potentially be brought to life on the small screen. Given the uncertainty around what the next live-action D&d project will look like after Paramount drops their Dungeons & Dragons show, there's a lot of speculation and ideation happening in fan spaces about what may come next.

Many speculate that D&d adventure modules would be the best starting point for a TV adaptation, as the hundreds of published modules are all packed with exciting events. Yet there's a difference between exciting events and a compelling story – a distinction many aspiring D&d dungeon masters need to understand – so it may be better to look to the multitude of D&d novels for inspiration instead. With over 500 published since the first, the franchise has plenty of source material to pick from.

Dungeons & Dragons had its shot at the perfect TV show but lost its chance in 2024. The huge franchise is based on a tabletop game but has expanded to include movies, TV shows, video games, and much more. With a mass of loyal followers growing since the 1970s, D&d has had many opportunities to develop even further. For instance, the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves ending is even more spectacular than the beginning suggests it will be. However, the box office performance didn't reflect that fact, leaving more Dungeons & Dragons adaptations uncertain.

The box office disappointment of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves had a big impact on the franchise, dissuading Dungeons & Dragons executives from bold commercial decisions that would involve risk. For example, a Paramount D&d TV show was recently, unfortunately axed. Many fans were excited about the possibility of this bringing R.A. Salvatore's character Drizzt Do'Urden to life,...

Dungeons & Dragons is one of the most beloved role-playing games in history, making it surprising there haven't been more successful movie and TV adaptations of the complex and compelling campaigns. Recently, the explosive popularity and critical acclaim of The Legend of Vox Machina have shown that there's an audience out there for additional projects. This could help pave the way for the potential live-action TV series based on D&d, but there will still be plenty of problems to grapple with. Namely, the show will have to pick the right story that stands out and engages fans, new and old.

As of now, the live-action D&d TV adaptation doesn't have a home. Paramount missed a Dungeons & Dragons opportunity by choosing not to pick up the series. Due to this, the live-action TV show will be shopped around to other potential studios. However, one universe within the D&d world,...

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor among Thieves is at last here, and as led by Chris Pine with a song in his heart, and a lute in his hands, the film acts as a massive introduction to the Forgotten Realms of early D&d lore for a wider audience. That’s right, the game that was once accused of promoting evil is going mainstream with a feel-good comedy! Which is definitely one valid approach to the material.

Indeed, over the many, many years that Dungeons & Dragons has existed, a vast array of worlds (known to tabletop gamers as “campaign settings”) have presented players with a variety of universes, settings, storytelling techniques, and arguably even “genres.” They can be funny, scary, and often always thrilling. They also represent a rich tapestry from which filmmakers at Paramount Pictures can draw.

While the term “shared universe” hasn’t been explicitly thrown around since...

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Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is coming, and the buzz from long-time Dungeons & Dragons fans is completely understandable. Dragonlance was once a prominent campaign setting (as well as the home for a library of fiction adventures) in almost every edition of D&d (it was skipped in 4E). A return to Dragonlance after that hiatus is something longtime players have been eagerly anticipating. But if you’re new to D&d or shared-world fantasy, what do you need to know to share that excitement? We’re taking a peek behind the curtain at the history of Dragonlance, highlighting some of the world’s best, most unique features to get you ready to join the War of the Lance.

Real World History

As a game setting, Dragonlance was designed to focus more on a themed saga than an open world, the way previous campaign settings had.

Marc Buxton May 24, 2019

Game of Thrones might be our favorite fantasy show ever, but here are the 10 best fantasy series that could possibly be even better...

Now that the Game of Thrones has come to an end on screen, it's time to start speculating on which fantasy book series might pick up the TV adaptation mantle once Game of Thrones is gone.

Game of Thrones is one of the greatest fantasy epics ever written and it makes for the perfect episodic television experience, but it's far from the only fantasy book series that deserves to be on TV. There are plenty of other epic fantasies that would make killer television shows, and they would grip fans just as much as Martin's tale of dragons, White Walkers, knights, magic, and betrayal has.

Hollywood is already taking notice, with everything from The Kingkiller Chronicle to The Dark Tower getting movie and TV adaptations.