In the long run, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is more about celebrating the game’s 50th anniversary one year early.
Spoiler Alert
Thankfully, the adaptation of the granddaddy of all role-playing games to cinema lives up to most expectations. At first I wasn’t sure if I’d like Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves because of the trailers. It had more of a Marvel movie vibe than anything else.
The full presentation should have dialled the laughs down, and made the fantasy setting feel a bit more mediaeval. Thankfully, the horror elements are done right. The undead are real, and they are waiting to conquer the Forgotten Realms. The armies of Szass Tam are the evil dead and living beings are needed to make new ones. And when Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) crosses paths with them, the trouble only gets worse.
Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves has a second trailer! Although it adds one new tease on what’s already known, it’s the humour that’s the highlight here!
How many classic monsters can viewers recognize in Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves second trailer? There’s one add to the list of what’s already known and overall, serves up nothing really news to what’s known which I wrote about some months ago.
Here, we are finally told about the tale: after Edgin the Bard (Chris Pine) and his merry team consisting of Holga the Barbarian (Michelle Rodriguez), Xenk the Paladin (Regé-Jean Page), Simon the Sorcerer (Justice Smith), Doric the Druid (Sophia Lillis) and Forge the Rogue (Hugh Grant), realise they worked for the wrong side, they have to do right. To do good according to the thieves way of living is a must, and it’s good to see some story reveal tie in to the film’s title.
After they accomplished one theft, they have another planned to correct their mistake. But things get hairier when the Red Wizards cometh to bring the end of the world. The plot is nothing special and the vibe suggests that this goofy gang of miscrents will find a way to do what’s right. Even though everything is foreign to them–including the use of the American spelling of the word for better marketing purposes here–they’ll find a way to correct that mistake.
But when this latest trailer reveals the undead will make up a mighty climax, perhaps there will be more surprises. I’d love to see an appearance of a Lich appear to put a wrench into the entire plan!
Magic: Legends is nearly ready to cast a spell on you, and WotC knows licensing out this game to Arc Game is theirs. This developer has a Diablo-like RPG is ready to go into open beta for PC users–launching next week March 23rd–and hopefully by the end of the year or early next, be available on the PS4 and Xbox consoles.
The videos for this game look exciting! The only downside is that this world is not MMO. Instead, it’ll be limited to whoever has a mouse and keyboard on hand. Star City Games wrote, “The game takes place after the Great Mending of Dominaria but before the Hour of Devastation on Amonkhet. Magic: Legends is focused on co-op RPG play but also offers a 1v1 PvP experience as well.”
This card game’s real time fantasy adventuring makeover is good, and is in par to how fantasy magic should be realistically done. Mages have to learn from a book (or a crib sheet of cards) of spells to summon creatures and cause damage at will. It doesn’t matter about how many times the magiks can be done in the day, but the fact players are running around in different worlds, embarking on quests is at the core of many a medieval style fantasy.
Gameplay Trailer
At the end of these adventures are opportunities to expand the repertoire of spells. Some of them are for all player character classes. Others will be unique. The only shame with this franchise is these games not operating in a shared environment. It’d be tough to do to validate ownership digital cards from Magic Arena, MtG Go and past products. The physical card game should remain as is, unless future releases start to offer one time redemption barcodes to allow for integration elsewhere.
Not every set of Magic the Gathering is worth playing. My interest lays less on being devoted to this hobby of CCGs and more on where the narrative is headed. The story-based focus has been at the forefront for years now, and I can thankfully ditch the expensive side of the hobby and simply enjoy the tale.
After War of the Spark, the story concerning the desert gods from Amonkhet came full circle (died) and lest Hazoret returns, I’m biding my time to see what the next expansions offer.
When I heard about a partnership with TOHO Studios, my interest peaked at what’s going to happen. Planeswalkers Vivien Reid, Lukka and Narset will no doubt be important. Plus, you can never go wrong with giant monsters! Ikoria fulfills my fondest desires with the trample mechanic. The two recent additions–mutate and companion–might break standard play, but I’ll rely on reports than experiment to find out myself. For now, I can also go full on Kaiju with alternate art cards in my play deck on those kitchen table games with my buddies.
As my unboxing video shows, I got extremely lucky with pulling not one but two of the few most talked about cards.
Just what I thought the teaser I saw on April 1st (tweeted out on March 31) with a huge footstep in rock by Wizards of the Coast was a joke, nope, they were deadly serious with the next set of Magic: The Gathering cards. This Renton, Washington based company got in touch with Toho Studio‘s to offer a tie-in to their Gojira property in the form of alternate art cards! The good: they are legal for game play, with the titular character available in one of the three designs as a buy a box promo. The bad: the remaining 15 cards to finish this set are only available in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths Collectors Boosters.
Spoiler Alert
Magic: Legends
By Ed Sum
By Ed Sum