Baldur's Gate Saga Animation?

Spaceman_Spiff

I know there's a Graphic Novel adaptation of BG by the folks over at IDW Publishing called Legends of Baldur's Gate (iirc the plot is not related to the events in the games but some characters like Minsc play a central role)... But I've always wondered why they don't make an animated series or a bunch of movies out of it? There's so much potential!

Tuth

Having the Dragonlance animated movie still in memory, I'd rather no one make a Baldur's Gate one.

RedGuard

I wouldn't mind a trilogy of Baldur's Gate movies or a Netflix series now that the companies involved in the D&D movie licence seem keen on moving forward with something. Failing that an animation wouldn't be a bad idea.

Dee

I was a big fan of the animated shorts that WotC put out in the lead-up to 4th Edition. Something like a half-hour sitcom-like series in the style of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but with D&D monsters as characters.

RedGuard

Think I'd like a serious attempt at Baldur's Gate or other D&D story be successful before a show that would basically deconstruct it.

Nimran

I hope it happens at some point as well, though it likely won't. Considering how terrible reality can be, if it did happen, it would be an adaptation of the novels instead of the games.

Spaceman_Spiff

haha oh those novels still give me the chuckles from time to time... I did buy them on their release dates though, cringeworthy or not.

DJKajuru

I fully support most things related to BG but... when it comes to projects such as that, I don't think they would make characters believable and interesting, specially CHARNAME.

On the other hand, I love seeing BG fanfics.

BelgarathMTH

The trouble with any and all ideas about a BG film, whether animated or live-action, is the entire concept of CHARNAME.

The main sine qua non of what makes BG special is the fact that the player gets to create his or her own main character. As delightful and engaging as are the huge cast of supporting characters, the only thing that really matters in BG is CHARNAME.

Look what happened with the one attempt to tell the story of Baldur's Gate in either written or filmatic form - dun, dun, DUN - the *gasp* Baldur's Gate novels.

Also, I once tried to read the novelization of Icewind Dale. I thought the dwarf brothers were interesting. They are all I remember about trying to read it. I bought the entire trilogy of novels, and I couldn't make it through the first one, because it was boring me to tears.

What made the stories of BG and IWD into absurdly boring and "Why the heck did this ever get published" tripe, was that I as the reader (or viewer) had absolutely no personal investment in the main character.

The identification of the reader (or viewer) with the main character is absolutely critical in swords-and-sorcery high fantasy.

No compelling main character, no good story. See Joseph Campbell's "The Hero's Journey".

The only reason that games like BG and IWD work is that they allow the player to create his or her own main character that compels him or her to become invested in the story world. Allow anyone else, including J.R.R Tolkein, G.R.R. Martin, David Eddings, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Anne MacCaffrey, or any other genius author to attempt to create his or her own story that follows the story of BG or IWD, and you will wind up with what is possibly a very epic story, but one that will displease almost 90 percent of fans of the game.

Svar

I've put an extensive amount of thought into the concept of the Baldur's Gate series as a TV show (since you could hardly fit all that into a few movies and do it anything remotely resembling justice), but in the end, I have to agree with @BelgarathMTH . Creating an official face of Charname would derail what makes the story so compelling for most players, which is the fact that Charname is whoever the player wants them to be. That in turn shapes the narrative in a way that appeals to the individual. If you made a Baldur's Gate show and Charname was a male, Lawful Good, dwarven fighter, that would alienate everyone who plays a completely different sort of character.

Charname's not the only issue either. There's also the problem of the party. How would you decide which characters will be shown as part of Charname's squad? You can't use everyone, try as you might, even if you disregarded the five NPC limit of the games. Leaving out people's favourites would further prevent them from forming an interest in the show. And then there's the problem of the romance plot. If you gave Charname a romance to spice things up, how would you choose one (*cough*not as challenging a decision if you had Charname down as female, mind*cough*)?

It would all come down to whatever the writer's preferences were, which is not what most people would want to see on screen. They'd want to see their own Charname with their own NPC favs, making all the choices they would make. I have therefore come to the conclusion that we must all take solace in fanfiction or otherwise produce fanfilms.

Officially sanctioned stories about our favourite NPCs, on the other hand, I totally support. I'd love to know more about Jaheira and Khalid's adventures together as members of the Harpers, Minsc and Dynaheir's travels before they reached the Sword Coast, or Rasaad's monastic shenanigans with his brother in Calimshan.

Noon

This remind me of a short animation with Drizzt and his friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5ZM1B-wrys

AHF

I think they could make an appealing BG saga ala GOT if they wanted. The game allows you choice, agency and variability but the basic story is good enough that I think an audience would get invested with a character if they were well written. I think a lack of good writing was more the problem with the BG novels than anything else. Whether the main character was a LG dwarven fighter or CN thief matters less than a compelling and well developed character with an engaging story arc.

BG the HBO TV show couldn't be all things to all people, but a vision of it could be fleshed out in a very successful way if well written, well acted and well directed.

RedGuard

I never quite understood the attitude that there shouldn't be a film/tv/novel adaptation of this or that rpg because you feel the player character will devalue your own vision of the character. I understand that's a personal point of view and you want nothing to infringe on your vision of the character and your time playing them, but I don't get why everyone else should miss out on something you could simply personally ignore.

Also I would argue that the novels main problem are that they are awful adaptations and not simply because they didn't offer a blank slate main character for you paint yourself. I never quite bought that fans/players are overwhelmingly that precious about their versions of a character they played that they somehow can't enjoy will feel absolutely alienated by an adaptation. I think that's more a trend in some of the more hardcore of the audience.

I also don't believe that a film adaptation being unsuited is an absolute. Each medium would have it's drawbacks whether it be book, comic, tv or film. Each would require changes. I know some come off as a little autistic when it comes to the idea of something being changed or different to what they're used to, but that doesn't necessitate it being bad.