D&D: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

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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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https://www.twitch.tv/odysseywow

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to episode 113 of Project Geekology.
And I just rolled a d20 and itlanded on 13.
So that's why we decided to do113.
Not because it's chronological,but just that's where it landed
.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
I am.
You gotta respect the die.
You gotta respect the die.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
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, butwe'll get into that later.
I'm one half of your host,anthony, and joining me, as
always, is Dakota?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yes, I think.
I think we do have mostlyfavorable things to say about
this movie.
I certainly do.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
But yeah, my name is dakota and I'm also joined with
rich really happy to talk to youguys about demogorgons and
seven and all the stuff that Iknow about dungeons and dragons
just wait until you meet thebeholder next season.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Actually, I don't know, but I I'm assuming that is
probably the most classicDungeons and Dragons, like foe
is the beholder.
So I'm guessing that's whatthey're saving for the final
season of Stranger Things.
But yeah, I'm excited to seethat whenever that comes up.
But anyway, yeah, so we arecovering Honor Among Thieves,
the 2023 Dungeons and Dragonsmovie.

(01:21):
That did not perform well, Imean, at least not box office
wise.
It didn't perform in a way thatit was immediately brought on
or like greenlit for a sequel,which everybody and their mom
wants.
Anyone who's ever seen thismovie is just like wow, this is
too good for its own right andit definitely deserves more like

(01:45):
space to grow on screen.
So it I hope.
I hope we do eventually get tosee 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 ofthat, let's jump into what we've
been up to these past two weeks, because I was sick last week.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
So, anthony, what have you been up to these past
two weeks?
Because I was sick last week.
So, anthony, what have you beenup to?
Edakota was down with thesickness, the flu, yes.
So, honestly, like these pastcouple of weeks have been like
really me prepping to kind ofshift over my job role.
I I'm slowly starting to get inthe equipment for my job.
I get a work phone like theysent me, like I got in a package
from from my job today and likeI open it up, I'm like, okay,

(02:36):
this is small, this isn't like acomputer, you know, because
like the box wasn't like bigenough to like fit like even a
laptop.
And like I open it up andthere's like a phone in there.
It's like an iPhone.
I'm like, okay, I guess this islike my work phone.
Like it's weird, like I'venever 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

(02:59):
generic number.
But so like, yeah've been likeslowly, like kind of starting
that it hasn't really like fullyhit 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'mthat, that's it.
I'll no longer be working at aphysical bank location.
I'll be working from home andin a different you know it role.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
So that's awesome, dude.
I never had the privilege ofworking for a place that sent me
, you know, a work phone oranything like that.
I can barely find the walkietalkies on like my electrical
job to like talk to my partner.
So yeah, I that's.
That's pretty cool man, that'sfunny.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
But yeah, man, like I've been mostly like playing,
like you know, either marvelrivals or monster hunter, like
still like really enjoying that.
I haven't gotten to the endgame yet, it's not really that
long of a game, but with theexception of like the first like
weekend, I haven't like playedreally like long, extended
sessions of it, I think mostlyjust because I'm kind of like

(04:03):
trying to savor it, not liketrying to just blow through it.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
But you're talking about marvel rivals no monster,
hunter wilds oh, I thought yousaid marvel rivals yeah, I said
two games oh okay, sorry my bad.
All right, monster hunter wildsyou, you.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, you have not been blowing through it yeah,
yeah, yeah so but yeah, no, Iknow I'm getting like pretty
close to the end.
I mean, if I wanted to like Ithink it was like that that
first weekend I could haveprobably blown through like the
the campaign, but I don't know,like I I've just been enjoying
that like this, the story inthis game is they really like

(04:39):
kind of expanded it and made itbetter than like the past
monster hunter games.
Like you know, there's actuallike voice acting.
There really wasn't like anyvoice acting, except for, like
maybe some of the cut scenes oror like very minimal dialogue.
You know, yeah, but yeah, no,I've been like, you know, just
kind of nothing too big, exceptfor, you know, just that stuff,

(05:02):
that stuff.
What about you?
What have you been up to?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
I've also been playing video games, actually
Because I've been homesick andpretty much just like napping
all the time.
I don't really have a lot ofenergy, or I didn't have any
energy like especially last week.
Dude, the flu is no joke.
I was out like two Saturdaysago.
Yeah, I think it was twoSaturdays ago.

(05:25):
Yeah, I think it was twoSaturdays 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 oftea in my lap and I would
literally pass out and the teawould 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 througheverything Like multiple times.

(05:47):
I would find myself in theshower at like four in the
morning.
I was just like I cannot liveright now.
Like what's happening?
Yeah, no, the flu is no joke.
I am definitely out of it.
I still have a little frog inmy throat, but that's pretty
much it.
Anyway, I did do more gamingthan I normally do, just because
I had the time.
I did want to mention I think acouple weeks ago on the podcast

(06:10):
I spoke about a mobile gamethat I was playing called
godzilla kong titan.
I called it titan hunters.
It's actually called titanchasers.
Anyway, I, as I mentioned, Iwanted to give it a few days of
gameplay, see how I liked it.
It was okay.
It's kind of like a basebuilder slash, character

(06:31):
upgrader, slash, resourcegatherer, slash quest thing.
It was like too much going onand I didn't really like it, but
I wanted to like it, if thatmakes sense, because I do like
the monster verse godzilla kongand all it.
But I wanted to like it, ifthat makes sense, because I do
like the MonsterVerse GodzillaKong and all that yeah.
So I wanted to, you know, justenjoy, like the story mode,
which was okay, you know itreally didn't have any

(06:54):
groundbreaking stuff or anythinglike that.
But I stopped playing about aweek ago because I discovered a
mechanic that I really hate.
So in this game, you build yourplayer card, like your handle
or whatever is attached to apower level.
A power level is granted.

(07:16):
You get higher power levels asyou upgrade your characters, as
you complete missions, as youupgrade your base, and so on and
so forth.
I got somewhere like 1.98million, which I thought was a
lot.
I thought that was like a lot.
In my guild I was like over amillion higher than the next
person.
It wasn't even my guild, I justhappened to, you know, have the

(07:37):
flu and be home all day, so Iwas able to rack that up.
And then I found out that inlike the pvp, like world, like
map, anyone could attack my base.
I was just like, okay, you'regonna take my resources, that's
fine.
But no, they took my literalpower level away from me, like
the, the thing that I had beenworking towards.

(07:59):
I was so confused.
I was just like wait, how isthis guy with 40 million power
literally just going to smallerplayers and just like taking
their power level.
Like how did that math work out?
Like what exactly is beingtaken away from my
accomplishments that this guy islike stealing my?
Anyway, I peaced out like then,and there I just rage, quit the

(08:20):
game, like Dakota's.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
No way, the game like no way I went.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
I went from like I went from like 1.98 million
power levels, which took me likea 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 themost 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 thatI was just like all right, this

(08:45):
has been in gestation for awhile.
I, you know, I signed up for ita long time ago, let's give it
a shot.
I turn it on.
It was Avatar Realms Collide.
So it was like an Avatar theLast Airbender.
It wasn't canon in any way.
Like it brings characters fromall eras together Dude, it was
the exact same game.
Eras together dude, it was theexact same game.

(09:08):
I'm not even joking, it was theexact same game.
It's a base builder, it's aquest sender, it's like a
character upgrader.
It's literally every single,like everything was the same,
and I was just like there's noway that this is the same
developer.
It was the same developer theyreleased like two games in the
span of two weeks from like twoof my favorite ips, and they
both suck, they both suck andthey both have that mechanic

(09:33):
where you can steal someoneelse's power level.
How stupid is that?

Speaker 1 (09:38):
I, I don't want to fell for it twice no, I didn't.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
I didn't give it a chance okay I only played maybe
a couple hours if that yeah, Ijust wanted to see, like, how
different it was and it wasexactly the same.
So that was frustrating.
But you know, on topic of whatwe're covering today, I also
jumped back into baldur's gate 3rich.
Did you ever play baldur's Gate?

Speaker 3 (10:02):
I actually didn't get a chance to you know what,
After today or after watchingthe movie, I think I'm more apt
to do it.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
I think you'd like it .
If you like Baldur's Gate,there's a few other games that
you would probably like that aremade by that same company that
made Baldur's Gate 3.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah.
So Larian did a phenomenal jobwith this game.
It was an easy contender and itdid win Game of the Year.
I think not this past year, Ithink 2023.
It won.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
They also have these games called Divinity and they
play very similarly, but they'realso very good games.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
So what Baldur's Gate 3 is you don't need any
information about, like whathappened in baldur's gate 1 and
2 right, but it takes place inone of the play settings in the
dungeons and dragons, likemultiverse, so in dungeons and
dragons you can choose whatsetting you want your adventure
to take place in.
There's a ton of you could.

(11:04):
There's millions of likehomebrew, you know like you can
make up your world and set allyour characters in this setting.
But the most popular since,like the eighties, has been the
forgotten realms, and that'swhat Baldur's Gate three takes
place in, as well as honor amongthieves, the movie that we
watched today, so it's in thatsetting, usually within the

(11:28):
forgotten realms, it takes placeon the continent of feyroon, on
the west coast, which is thesword coast.
So the entirety of baldur's gate3, as well as the entirety of
the movie that we're going to bediscussing later, all take
place on the sword coast of theforgotten realms.
So there is like a sharedidentity, even though the

(11:48):
stories are completely different.
You don't really get a grasp ofthe gameplay style in the movie
because it's being played not asa game, but like as if this
were a reality you know, so,whereas honor among thieves is a
story being told to you withcharacters that are unique and
all that, baldur's gate 3 is youplaying a dnd setting with

(12:11):
pre-built characters oh, okay,that makes sense so what's great
about baldur's gate 3 is thatthere's kind of like infant,
like an infinitude of likepossible endings and possible
paths you can choose based onyour decisions.
So it's not like you know, backin the day they used to make
the telltale games where you had.

(12:32):
You had the perception of choice.
There was no real choice.
Maybe there was on like acouple things, but most
decisions led you to the sameconclusion.
This game is completelydifferent.
You can have an entirelydifferent experience and
gameplay and story than I do,just based on the decisions that
you make in not only likedialogue, but how well you roll

(12:55):
each oh yeah, wow, so all rightso there's I.
I cheat a little bit in thesense that, like I have a lot
just random saves, I'm like Iknow something big is about to
happen.
Let me just save this just incase I don't like the outcome.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah dang, Not to go to the save scummer.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
I'm a save scummer for sure, but yeah, I'm really
enjoying Baldur's Gate.
I played it a little bit whenit first came out and there's a
multiplayer aspect to it, likeyou can play with two to four
people on the same screen ohlike, which is pretty cool, or
you could do it online as well,but the actual game is not

(13:35):
online, so you're not going tobe interacting with other
players if you don't want tonice.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Perfect, because that's the one thing that I
think for me.
I play dragons, dogma, and youkind of just like see randos,
and sometimes they would justkind of be annoying and I'm just
like get away.
I don't want that.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
What I will say is the game is extremely hard, like
frustratingly hard at certaintimes.
Like you're, like man, I reallywant to beat this boss guy.
I got to restart the game.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Oh no.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, man, I totally missed that shot I missed like
five shots in a row.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh, I'm gonna die, yeah, so, um, it's a lot of that
.
Yeah, it has the whole funelement of rolling a d20 and
just like, yeah, man, justcritical hits critical hits and
also critical failures.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Yeah, it's a really fun game and I'm I'm only 20 to
25 hours in, I think, so I'mstill in act one.
There's three acts and you knowpeople have saved files that
are like well over 400, 500hours on the game, so like
there's so much to do.
But yeah, I'm, I'm reallyexcited to keep playing that,
also because I like the dndworld.

(14:41):
I think it's such a coolsetting yeah um, but, but yeah,
that's.
I think that's what I've been upto.
Oh, I've been watching thecrown, which is really good.
Like I mean, I didn't think itwasn't going to be a good show,
but like it's based on thehistory of modern day royalty in
britain and the lives and crazystories that they've had since

(15:04):
the 50s and 60s all the way.
Like I'm in the, I'm in thelate 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 theprivate conversations like two
characters have that there's nopossible way that the show knows
what they said.
You know so.
So that kind of stuff is yougot to take with a grain of salt

(15:26):
, but that's cool as well.
As White Lotus, this season isso good.
I don't know if you guys haveever watched White Lotus, but
like it's like it's on my list.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
It's on my list.
I heard it's really good.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
It's just the most stressful hour of television
every week but's so engaging andit's like an addiction, like
you need to know what theseidiots on screen get up to.
But so, basically, the premiseof white lotus it's kind of like
an anthology series where thefirst season follows three or

(16:00):
four different groups ofindividuals in a resort called
the white lotus in hawaii.
The second season has differentpeople but they're at a resort
in italy and now this season isin a resort in thailand and it's
completely different cast andcharacters, but there's one
person each season.

(16:20):
That ties back to past seasons.
So there is is an overarchingthread, but it's nuts.
Every season ends with theworst possible thing happening
at these resorts.
So far, each season one or twopeople have died, you know, and
you're kind of like guessingwho's going to do it or what's
going to happen, and thesepeople get into like the

(16:41):
craziest stuff ever.
It's honestly just extremelygood TV.
So I'm a big fan of White Lotus.
This season has been really fun.
I think there's two moreepisodes left.
I should be an eight episodeseason.
So anyway, that's what I'vebeen up to.
I had a lot to say this time.
Sorry, rich, I'm going to throwit over to you.
What have you been up to?

Speaker 3 (17:00):
I don't know.
I'm kind of like in this deadmode before baseball starts.
I've been lowering myself towatching spring training
baseball games, which is oof.
If you want to feel like youthrew your life away just watch
a spring training baseball game.
But luckily most of them are atone o'clock and I happen to
have a break for about an hourbefore I teach my next class at

(17:20):
that time and I'm usually bymyself, so I can just kind of
tune in and zone out a littlebit, do some grading.
I've been watching daredevil,I've been keeping up on it, so,
through episode four, I'm reallyloving it.
I think it's fantastic.
I think it's one of the bestmarvel shows they've made.
I know that I normally am notvery, you know, I don't really

(17:41):
don't have a problem with a lotof the content, you know.
But I mean, secret wars wassummarily bad, but I can't say
like, oh no, this was good,there was nothing good about
that and I feel like it was awaste of my time.
But I'm really I'm loving it.
I mean, I think part of it'stheir fisk is so good.
What's his name?
the, the, the roach alien, thebug alien from denafrio there we
go, yeah, yeah I just rememberhim as the bug alien from Men in

(18:04):
Black, from Men in Black.
It's crazy that he looks sodifferent.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
I know In that movie.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
I don't know how he was making it look like he
really wasn't His skin wasn'this.
It was just unbelievable it wasa crazy performance.
We should have seen this coming.
We should have known back thenthat this guy was going to be
great.
If this coming, we should haveknown back then this guy was

(18:32):
going to be great.
So if you're not watchingdaredevil, go watch daredevil.
I highly recommend, highlyrecommend it.
And then, of course, I finallydid get my hands on mlb the show
.
So I have been a completedegenerate.
I'm confident that nobody fromher job is listening, so I
clearly was not at work the dayit came out for early release.
I gave myself a mental healthday.
I did have to monitor.
I did have to monitor.
To be fair, I had to monitorlike some work stuff, and it was

(18:53):
just way easier if I didn'thave to be in the building
because it was like digital.
So like I know it sounds weirdbecause I'm a teacher, but
anyway I had to do that stuff,so it was way easier to be at
home.
And then you, you know, mlb theShow twisted my arm a bit, so
it's been great.
I mean, there's nothing likehaving.
I don't know if you guys knowwho this is.
His name is Juan Soto.
He used to play for the Yankees, but he's going to be a Met for

(19:14):
the next 15 years and probablybring home at least three World
Series.
There's nothing like playing agame and having like the best
guy on your team, and it's notbecause you had to start a
franchise and like mortgageeverything or like force trade
like so, anthony, there'sthere's a meta conversation
happening right now where richis deeply trying to get me into

(19:36):
being a Mets fan and I said youneed at least a couple World
Series before like.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
I can even consider that, but all right.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
So we're starting off here and I'm hoping that if I
win in the game, I can just sendDakota screenshots of the Mets
winning the World Series, andthat'll confuse me.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
You'll be like whoa what?

Speaker 3 (20:12):
That's crazy.
It's March.
Man, how did you get thatfootage?

Speaker 1 (20:16):
You'll confuse them into being a fan, and I tried
with baseball.
I couldn't get into it In New.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
York.
It's a different beast.
I will say that it is like thewater cooler sport out here.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, what was it?
Miami?
I mean, we have a team downhere, but baseball is just not
our thing.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Right, it's not, it isn't.
Yeah, and I get it Well I mean.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
It doesn't help that your team?

Speaker 3 (20:42):
your team decides like hey, you know what we
should do Get rid of all thegood guys Like the Marlins just
will stack up and have a squat.
They won the world series andthen the next year the guy just
literally sold everybody awayand nobody was there.
So that's good business.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
And you guys don't even have do you guys have a
dome is alone.
Does the loan it's loan Depotpark by by you right?
No, there's, there's somethinglike I, I know, I, I know what
the?
I don't even know the name ofthe stadium, I just know that
you know I'll drive by and belike, oh yeah, I think that's
where the marlins play yeah,it's probably.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
I'm a degenerate and I have in my water bottle.
So it's lone depot park.
It's a different beast and Iwill tell you.
I will say one thing if youhaven't watched baseball in the
last two years, have you watchedin the last two years?

Speaker 1 (21:27):
yeah, I've watched the like.
I've tried to watch a couplegames.
Dude, my brain cannot like,like like, because it's too slow
moving for me.
Gotcha, it's too slow moving forme.
Like I have to, it's got.
There's got to be movement.
There has to be movement.
Like I watch f1, there's alwayssomething going on.
F1 um, I even like basketball.
There's a lot of like back andforth.
You know, I'm even like tryingto like hop into hockey because

(21:50):
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 becauseeven that moves a little too
slow for me yeah, I will.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
I, I agree with the football.
What I like about mlb is thatit is psychological and you
could see when the players arein their head.
They're in their own head oryou know, like the other team is
like wheedling their way intotheir subconscious, like
gameplay and stuff it's.
It's actually kind ofinteresting in that respect.
But yeah, no, I, I do.

(22:20):
I understand, because I feltthe exact same way that you did
anthony for most of my life,pretty much until we decided to
start going to games and you getinto it.
I challenge you.

Speaker 3 (22:30):
Anthony, I'm going to come down to Miami.
I'm not lying, this is not ajoke.
I'm secretly playing a trip toMiami on September 27th and 28th
.
I'm whispering because I don'twant my wife to hear this.
It happens to be the lastseries of the year.
I'm whispering because I don'twant my wife to hear this.
It happens to be the lastseries of the year and if the
Mets playoff hopes are in doubtthat weekend, I guarantee you
that.

(22:50):
I have already looked atflights.
I'm thinking about flying intoFort Lauderdale and then going
to a game with my son Just myson, not bring my wife and then
just fly back home Sunday.
So just lock it in there, baby.
Look atota's face okay fory'all.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
For for those of y'all who can't see dakota, like
while while rich was rattlingthat off.
Dakota was like just come.
He was like stunned, like isthis really being said?

Speaker 2 (23:24):
this is nuts anyway.
Oh man, that was good.
All right, boys, let's talkabout.
Sorry rich, did you haveanything else that you want to
talk about?

Speaker 3 (23:31):
no, no, it's just like besides detailing your
secret plans.
Well, I will.
Just, it's just because my wifebought me a water bottle and it
has every stadium and it comeswith a vinyl sticker and these
are amazing.
They don't come off, like onceit's on the bottle, like nothing
can take it off, essentially,so you know you can wash it,
whatever.
It's fantastic.
And then whenever you go to astadium, you put the sticker on

(23:52):
the bottle okay, so it's, it's achallenge yes, my, and it's a
contract my wife gave me, whichwas really just not great
thinking on her part, because nothat's.
That means that I have tocomplete 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 formy family, so you, know.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
That's why I'm making .
This is a sacrifice.

Speaker 3 (24:11):
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 inmiami, you don't come with me.
I'm gonna say you know what Ithought there was honor among
podcasters.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
Dang that honor among podcasters, not trying to drag
me into a baseball game.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
Oh God, all right.
Shall we jump into the nextsegment of our show?

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yeah, we shall Do it.
Dakota.
Is that what I think it is what.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
No for the sponsor of today's show.
I'm cracking open a Slim Jim ohyeah, Snap into a Slim Jim
Dakota.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
I just see you feeling something and I'm like
this man does not have a SlimJim in his hand right now.
Now he's taking it to likeDidn't you say, you haven't had
a Slim Jim in years and now youhave one.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
I have one in my mouth as we speak.
I will say it's not as juicy asI 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 (25:33):
Dude, I'm done.
Dakota took the bit evenfurther with an actual slim gem
and is actively choking on thedryness of it yeah, I'll eat the
rest of it later.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
I do enjoy the taste, it's just it is a little dry.
Guys, we're discussing Dungeonsand Dragons, honor Among
Thieves, with a pretty stackedcast yeah we have a lot of big
names.
Actually, hold on, I'm going topull this up, I guess, before I
jump into the whole cast thing.

(26:11):
Rich, this being your first, Ithink, entry point into Dungeons
Dragons, I'm curious what youthink.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
So you know I'm starting to see a little bit of
pattern here.
First we did it with Ghiblifilm.
I think you guys are gettingyour druthers picking stuff that
I have absolutely no ideawhat's going on before I put it
on, because I have activelyavoided Dungeons and Dragons my
entire life.
It's a choice.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Oh, I didn't know that.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
This is a.
Like I said at a certain point,I was collecting too much
nerddom.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Oh yeah, so you needed to draw a line in the
scene.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
I had the wrestling, I had the Star War, I had a lot
of stuff, and I just felt likethat was going to be a dividing
line that none of my friendswanted to.
You know, to be clear, none ofmy friends growing up play it.
So it wasn't like it was even athing in my neighborhood or
anything like that, it just wasa thing that I kind of had heard
about and never really explored.

(27:10):
My friends kind of implied,like if you go down, basically
what they said was you're goingdown 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 the20-sided dice and then stranger
things, right.

(27:30):
So, for example, dakota's wiferuns dungeons, dragons at school
and I will.
Samara runs it in the sameclassroom that I teach in last
period.
So often the kids will come inand as I walk out I'm just like,
uh, demogorgon I love, I justyell like d20, like I just yell
random stuff that I know becauseI know nothing.
I know nothing.
So, cantrip, I start watchingthis movie and I'm not gonna lie

(27:54):
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 forthis movie as comparable to the
first pirates of the Caribbean,which I talked to you guys
about earlier.
Wow.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
You know like.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
I the fact that there aren't five of these.
I'm so angry Like it's a riproaring good time you don't have
to know, and I don't understandhow it didn't make money,
because that's one of thosemovies that you just go to for a
good time.
Like that should have been amovie that people were like, hey
, what are you doing thisweekend?
Go see dungeons and dragons.
Like you don't need to knowanything beforehand and I'm sure

(28:34):
that if you know tons ofdragons, dungeons, dragon stuff,
there are so many eas Eastereggs that make you smile.
And I couldn't identify any ofthose 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 MichelleRodriguez is the actress.

(28:58):
She's perfectly cast in thatrole.
When I think of of, if you haveto put a female lead who's like
a real ass kicker, I choose herevery day of the week.
She's fantastic.
So I thought the acting wasgreat there.
I I just topped up and it wasreally just fun and and it was,
like you said, star studded.
I just don't even understandhow you.

(29:19):
The plot's really easy tofollow.
I don't think it's convoluted.
I don't think there's anythingcomplicated Like.
This is one of those justreally fun popcorn movies that I
almost Like.
Honestly, if you're listeningto this and you're like, hey, I
didn't like it, I don't knowwhat's wrong with you.
Maybe you shouldn't listen tothe podcast anymore.
I'm sorry, gents, I know thatyou guys have been doing this

(29:39):
longer than I have, but, hotdamn, I love that movie good.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
No, that's exactly the response that everyone
should basically have whenwatching this movie yeah so I I
did look it up.
I do think it made back its boxoffice, but it just didn't
perform well enough that it wasworth that risk, I guess so,

(30:04):
isn't it?
Wild, though, like this thing208 million on a budget of 150
million, and it's wild becauseit you know it's certified fresh
.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
It made it's 91% on rotten tomatoes.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
I think everyone loved it yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
I think, like pretty much, like most, pretty much
most reviewers loved that movie.
I think what the problem mightbe is that, even with the whole
Stranger Things thing kind ofbringing a bit of a resurgence
to D&D, I think that there'sstill a little bit of a stigma
with D&D.

(30:40):
You know, like some peoplestill kind of see it as, like
you know, that it's like thatlast line of of nerdiness that
they just don't want to crossover, very similar in a way that
, like you know rich right, youknow rich was like you know that
I've got to draw a linesomewhere and D&D is it, you
know.
So that's a lot of people.
I mean.

(31:01):
Dude, I talked to one of myfriends.
You know her and her husband.
They run an anime, geeky, likea geeky anime and like board
game shop, right, and herhusband, like you know he's all
about you know stuff like D&Dand different board games and
stuff, and she's like I'm notdoing that, like that's like
just deep nerdiness, and I'mlike I'm like, oh my God, I was

(31:26):
like you're already like in thethick of it with the nerdiness.
Like what, what?

Speaker 2 (31:29):
like D and D is like literally your life.
You've got a shop.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
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 thatthere is a little bit of like a
stigma with it.
You know, even though it wassuch a, it was such a like fun
film.
I loved it, dude, like when itwas in in theaters.

(31:57):
I definitely went back to seeit.
I know I saw it at least twice,but I'm pretty sure that there
might have been a third time inthere, but I definitely saw it
twice nice, you have done yourduty, soldier.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, I, I don't remember how many times I saw it
.
I might have only seen it theone time in theaters.
No, no I, I definitely saw ittwice because I made a video
timeline about it, so Idefinitely was present for
multiple viewings.
But yeah, that was a realheartbreak, like that.
It just was not seen, you know,and everybody online was just

(32:32):
like on Twitter.
It's like once a week what's amovie that deserves a sequel and
it will always like pop up aslike number one or like the most
quote tweeted.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
It's just the most fun like in a movie theater that
I've had in a long time I Iagree, and one of the biggest
things that I love about thisdnd movie is that, like you know
, because I do have the fullkind of relationship with dnd,
like you know, actually likeplaying in it.
I mean, I haven't done anydming but I, you know, I'm in a

(33:09):
in a weekly session and so, likeyou know, I know how like
playing dnd is, like you know,just kind of the zaniness of it,
and this movie was likewatching a dnd session.
It was like all of the like youknow, the successes, the
failures, like some of the likeyou know, kind of trip ups, you

(33:29):
know a lot of stuff thathappened in it.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Like it makes you think, like dude, this is
something that you wouldexperience playing dnd, you know
the best example of like thezaniness that you can get into
with dnd kind of even stems fromjust like the beginning of the
game or beginning the beginningof the movie, where you have

(33:53):
edgan and holga trying to breakfree from prison while in that
like like meeting to, like youknow, go over their case, which
is such a funny scene theAarakocra named Jarnathan, not
Jonathan Jarnathan it's so funny, but that is something that you
can picture D&D players comingup with.

(34:13):
Oh, can I inspect the room?
Yeah, you have a large circularwindow behind you.
You have four judges on a tablein front of you.
What do you do?
I take the judge with wings andI run towards the window, try
to survive.
That's something that you woulddo in.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
D&D.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Also the fact that you know, holga, she didn't have
any weapons, but she had apotato.
And she started, she's stilllike potatoes.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
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 mygosh, Like dude, like they, like
I'm telling you straight uplike dnd, and like the fact that

(35:05):
there was like a fat dragon inthere oh, so yeah I loved it so
much I, I couldn't.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
As I saw that dragon, I'm like I'm staring at it and
I'm going that is one of theweirdest design, because I don't
get what's wrong with it right.
I just see it come out, becauseyou just see the chubby cheeks.
Yeah, and I'm like what, and Iliterally got closer to the TV
and I've seen, you know, tons ofdragon representations in my
time, from Smaug to.

(35:33):
I can't remember the guy whocalled me Dovah King in Skyrim
but Parthenax or something likethat, I who called me Dovah King
in Skyrim but Parthenax orsomething like that.
I've had a close relationshipwith many and actually one of my
favorite versions is if youever played the mod.
There was a mod that turnedevery dragon in Skyrim into ooh
yeah, macho man, randy.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Savage.
Oh yeah, I saw that.
I saw that it gives it.
It's like the head.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
And the hat it gives him the hat like the cowboy and
the hat it gives them like thehat.
It's so, so great.
So that dragon cracked me upbecause it was like a slow
reveal and you know.
And then you then you see, likea 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 guysreally have no imagination.
Like that dragon can't even fly.

(36:20):
But then you had a properdragon later.
There's just so many.
That's what's so great aboutthis.
It's just there are so manylittle things that were inviting
.
I almost think that if theyjust called it Honor Among
Thieves, it would have broke thebox office.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
You think so?
Yeah, you think it's the titleof Dungeons Dragons that like
really held it back A hundredpercent.
I think that Anthony was ahundred percent on it.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
I saw it and I was like, hey, that looks fun, but
there's no chance I'm going tothe theater to see it.
I have no reason, because Ihonestly didn't even.
I wasn't even like DungeonsDragons.
That's too nerdy for me.
It was like Dungeons Dragons Idon't know anything about that
right, like why would I want togo see that if I know?
Like for me, I don't know and Idon't know if it's comparable.

(37:05):
I'm just wondering aboutcertain things.
But like the Resident Evilmovies, you know, I think
sometimes some of thosefranchises what actually becomes
a little bit prohibitive forthose who are not involved in it
at all.
It's like they just feel alittle bit overwhelmed with the
idea of going into this and notknowing, just being left in the

(37:25):
dark.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Well, my thing is well, with those movies they
literally had the sourcematerial and just threw it out
the window.
With D&D you can kind of createany sort of story, and you know
that's what this is.
You know they really lean intothe fact that you can create
your own story within this world.
There's nothing holding it backunless, like, you're kind of

(37:48):
like you're trying to purposelylike desecrate it.
You know it's really hard tolike.
You know mess up.
You know, like this, this worldthat you know already kind of
exists.
You know the backdrop's alreadythere.
You just kind of fill it inwith.
You know characters and youknow characters that fit very
well.
You know the this group is very, very much so a ragtag group

(38:13):
that you would have like withyour group of friends playing
dnd.
You know you have like this,you know sorcerer, who, simon,
who can like like you know hefails or like not really good
like this is somebody thatprobably consistently rolls like
under a 10.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
You know, on a d20 and his stats are all, like you
know, single digit stats exactly.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
And then, like you know, you have Edgan, who's the
bard that like know he's reallylike there for just like moral
support.
Even though like bards canactually get really like
involved in D&D and some canhave like magical aspects to
them, also have like very, Ilike that you don't have to

(39:04):
guess what type of like rolethey are against the bard hoga
is the um is yeah, she's abarbarian.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
You know, simon is a sorcerer, you have, oh my gosh,
yeah, yeah, dork, that's uh thedruid, and so what I like about
those like core four charactersis that the classes don't
necessarily complement eachother at all but the characters

(39:29):
do you know, like so and that'skind of the whole thing with dnd
.
Like you don't necessarily haveto like when you're building
your characters with your party,you don't have to like make
characters that are that willcomplement another character.
You will just figure out waysto overcome challenges with your
unique set of abilities thatyou each collectively have.

(39:52):
You know, and I think that thatis really showcased well in
this movie yeah, yeah, no, I,absolutely I.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
I like you have zinc who is pretty much like he's a
paladin.
Yeah, he's a paladin and a dude.

Speaker 3 (40:08):
I loved his character so much like how literal he was
now when, when he finally comesat the end, like, is he still
walking in that straight linefrom when we left him earlier?

Speaker 1 (40:25):
oh my gosh, when he like walks straight and he just
like, instead of walking aroundthe rock, yeah, he walks like
over it and then like I thinklike 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 hissleeve and then he's like the
only thing I have in my sleevesare my arms and then the brain

(40:49):
creatures intellect of ours yes,yes, and he's like.
You know, the higher theintellects you know like they'll
like devour you and they justlike bypass them all what's?

Speaker 2 (41:01):
what's crazy is I I restarted balder's gate 3
recently and it starts with youeither like befriending or like
not befriending an intellectdevourer.
Yeah, you know, like you couldeither kill it on the spot or
you could let it like guide youthrough the tutorial.
Yeah, so that that's prettycool.
Going back to the dragon,what's cool?

(41:21):
Like there's certain thingsthat they just totally made up
for the movie.
Like there's concepts that theytotally made up that they later
put in the game, like thefrozen prison wasn't a thing in
like dnd, canon or lore, butthey added it after the movie.
But one thing that was therewas the dragon Thambershod and

(41:45):
he was always a big boy, like inother books and games.
But I guess this takes place alittle bit after that
timeline-wise, so they just blewhim up even more for this movie
, which is just hilarious.
They're like we already got achubby dragon, let's make it
chunky.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
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 andSimon steps on a piece and
completely takes down the wholelike a piece, like incompletely,
like takes down I love, I lovethat zank is like it's quite

(42:25):
simple really, and then hestarts like detailing this like
30 step plan to get across thebridge in quick succession.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Oh, it's so good, it's yeah, it's so wild and then
I like that they have a.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Um, what was it?
Because my party has one, aHither Thither Staff.
Oh, do you have?

Speaker 2 (42:44):
a Hither Thither Staff.
Yeah, we have one, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
So they're like oh, this is Hither, Thither Staff.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
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 ofthose items that they added to
the game after the movie, likeon dnd beyond, which is like the
online portal where you canlike basically collect all your

(43:12):
your source books and all yourcharacter sheets and everything.
They added like five or six newsheets of like lore and
character, like npc stuff forthe characters in the game or
the characters in the movie, aswell as like certain items like
the helmet of disjunction, likethat as a new item that
basically they just added to thednd lore that you can use in

(43:33):
your games.
I don't think the hither.
I'm not sure about the hitherthither stuff, but I think it
hither.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
I I'm not sure about the hither thither stuff, but I
think it began in honor amongthieves.
You know what's crazy is that,like in the dnd session that I'm
in, like we were also like in arealm called hither.
Oh really, yeah we're, we're inthe, 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.

(44:05):
No-transcript.
We all like barely like we'rebarely like scraping behind them
and like the last session wehad, we fought like two really
crazy things like back to backand one of our people died
actually.
Oh yeah, I almost did too.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
I was like Did they have to create a new character?

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Yeah, I think so.
I think they're going to haveto.
That sucks.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
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 gonnaallow them to like level up the?

Speaker 1 (44:37):
character to your party's?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure sorich in.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
In dnd there is a level of so, like in balder's
gate 3, you can always restartor like go to a load or whatever
.
But with Dungeons and Dragons,the board game, you could be
playing this character for liketwo years, three years, and then
all of a sudden you get areally bad day and an enemy just

(45:06):
decreases your, your health tozero, and then you have to
commit to certain saving throwsand if you don't, your character
dies yeah, there are waysaround that if, if, if the dm,
if the dungeon master decides,you know, like there's a way to
bring your character back or hewants to like, do, like an like

(45:26):
an afterlife sort of campaignfor your character to come back
or something.
But there's always a way aroundit right right like, but a lot
of dms are very hard and fast on, like your character died,
that's it yeah, yeah, and thenit was like the.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
Actually a cool thing , though, too, is that like, if
you throw, so if you're rollinga d20 and if you land on a 20 on
your like death saves, youactually revive with one hp oh I
, I would be, I, I would beabsolutely furious if my

(46:04):
character died after a number ofyears, like I don't even I
don't know what to tell.

Speaker 3 (46:09):
Like I would have to go on vacation or something
after that.
Like it would make me ragefulto dedicate my time to.
I didn't know that that couldhappen.
Like that's even, oh man.
Like I actually was talkingabout 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 (46:30):
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 incritical role, like these people
are playing their charactersfor like years and like their
characters will die.
It's not, uh, you know, likethey, they, you know, and

(46:51):
sometimes it's like it's alwaysa good idea to have like a
backup, you know, and then youknow, here for our ad break, you
know from our sponsor.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Look, I have this open Slim Jim right in front of
me.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
I got to eat by the way, I have it on good word that
Dakota has already had threehot dogs today, and now he's
still eating the Slim Jim thatis so much processed meat,
friend.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
But he had to because it's our non-existent sponsor.
That's right.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
I heard it's way better if you just drop it on
the floor of a track facilityand just eat it off the floor.
It actually adds a little bitof flavor, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Rich, oh yeah, is that Okay?
Adds a little seasoning?
Yeah, just a bit, Just a bit.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
That AstroTurf dust, oh man, anyway, yeah, so let's
talk a little bit about thiscast, because it's pretty
stacked.
Yeah, so we have Chris Pine inthe main character role of
Edgern Darvis.
He does a phenomenal job ofjust mixing the camp with the

(48:02):
heart, yeah, and I think he'slike that for pretty much every
role he's in, which is it'sperfect for him, you know, but
he just embodies this bardcharacter for him, you know, but
he just embodies this bardcharacter.
And what I love about thecampiness is that the people on
screen don't seem to sense thecampiness.
Like he'll just start us, likehe'll just jump into a song and

(48:23):
it just entrances people aroundhim.
Like holga of all people youwould think like and you gotta,
you gotta stop, you know, but no, like she would like jump into
the song as well, like I lovethat about you know the their
characters.
But yeah, you have michellerodriguez as holga, the
barbarian justice smith as simonthe sorcerer yeah, I've seen
him in several things yeah, andhe is an also another actor that

(48:46):
kind of always plays a certainrole, but this felt fresh even
for that, so I like that.
And of course, hugh grant asforge fitzwilliam, he's probably
one of my favorite characters,just because he's so deliciously
evil, I guess like I don'tthink he's actually like oh well
, like he plays that, he's nothe's not malicious, he's just in

(49:10):
it for himself, he's roguishand he's in it for himself
that's his class, he's, he is arogue.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
Oh yes, yeah yes, oh, that's that.
See, he reminds me so much ofbarbosa from the part.
I'm sorry, I love those piratesmovies, 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 oflike him, I enjoy him being like
that, and I just think.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Well, yeah, no, jeffrey Rush was just.
I mean, look, he was one of myfavorites in those series too.

Speaker 3 (49:49):
So here it's just.
I think you got hugh grantdoing the kind of the same thing
.
You know, he's just there.
There's no one in this movie.
That it's really fun.
It's also kind of fun to likewatch a movie about good versus
evil where, like the evil's notthat depressing, you know, like
I could deal with forge's evil.
I'm like yeah, yeah, all right.

(50:09):
You know a lot of it has to dowith the way grant plays it.
You know there's still a charmcharm 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 badguy, but that's kind of what he
does.
I don't know how many actorsyou put in that role.
That would pull it off as well,you know.
And obviously the acts I don'tknow.
I mean this is about my bias,right, but or I mean a lot of

(50:33):
time when you get these periodpieces.
You know when you're settingthese medieval, you need to have
the british accent, you know.
So like I think grant havingthat also kind of really helps
it out yes, and it definitelyworked, with his character being
basically the ruler ofNeverwinter.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
Just again, just deliciously evil.
We also have Daisy Head asSophina, who I'm not familiar
with and, honestly, like I'mlooking at her like profile
picture on Google and Irecognize her, knowing that this
character played the Red Witch,but I wouldn't If this person

(51:11):
was standing right in front.
But I I wouldn't if if thisperson was standing right in
front of me and I wasn'tthinking about this movie, I
would never.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
But Sophia who played Doric, I would definitely
recognize her.
I just don't have that likerecognition yet with her as an
actress, but she did a fantasticjob as well.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
Yeah, oh dude, I loved Bradley Cooper Marlaman,
but she did a fantastic job aswell.
Yeah, oh dude, I loved bradleycooper marlin.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Yes, oh, I love that.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
What did you think?

Speaker 2 (51:38):
of?
What did you think of?
What did you think of halflingbradley cooper?

Speaker 3 (51:42):
I, I wish we had more .
I mean I you know, I meanbradley.
He's, you know, I mean he's kindof almost, in some ways,
forever rocket.
You know, I think that havinghim be a shorter character was I
mean, I'm hoping it was alittle bit of a nod to that.
I just think he's great oncamera and he's great as a voice

(52:03):
actor.
It doesn't matter what you dowith him.
I just think that he's got thatkind of his comedic timing is
just excellent.
I don't know, I think, like Isaid, I mean we need to have a
second one, that he's got thatkind 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 andwe need him to be in it longer,
like I want like full 20 minutes.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
And then him.
I don't even think he was likea funny character, you know,
Like I don't think he saidanything that was particularly
funny.
It particularly funny, it wasjust the juxtaposition of Holga
going to see her, her oldhusband, and it just happens to
be tiny.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
Bradley Cooper, exactly Like it's the.
The scene itself was funny andnot really because of what was
being said, but yeah, like yousaid, like you know what we were
seeing on the screen and youknow this like brawny woman,
just you know she has this likeaffinity for smaller men, you

(53:00):
know like, and you see thatlater on in the film too like
that that's just her.
You know, she's just.
And and the thing is is thatmarlin man has a thing for
bigger women.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
It's so random.
Oh, I love it so much.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Yeah, dude, that was awesome.
I also liked the whole thingwhere they had to like they were
looking for the helmet and theywent to the graveyard to speak
to the people.
That is an actual.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
D&D thing the speak with the people and that is an
actual dnd thing to speak withthe dead, where you get five
questions, I think that I'mtrying to think if one of the
people in my group have that.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
But dude, I thought that was like funny too.
Like you know, when they likekind of found out what they
needed, they're like oh okay,five questions, and then like
then they like leave, like oneof the guys like with four
questions, oh man yeah, there's.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
There's some really, really cool scenes.
I think that that particularsequence where they're showing
flashbacks from 100 years agolike it's nothing, just because
they have the ability to talk todead and I love the first one
where they're trying to likefigure out how the five
questions work and the thing isanswering him very literally yes
, yes, no, five, five more, orsomething like that.

(54:21):
Yeah, I love that.
Another scene that I reallyenjoyed, even though it doesn't
really work like this in D&D, isthe druid transformations.
Realistically, you can onlytransform once each long rest,
basically, so you'd never beable to in quick succession,

(54:46):
turn from an owlbear into a fly,into a mouse, into a.
You'd never get thatopportunity in the actual game,
but in the context of the movieit was such a fantastic scene
where you know it had theillusion of a one shot take,
even though it was just likeheavily CGI'd over, but it was

(55:06):
really cool the way they didthat.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
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 wastalking about, like her,
turning into a deer earlier on,and then she just looks over at
egg and was like oh so you didturn into a deer oh, my favorite

(55:28):
line in the whole movie is myfavorite.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
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 anarrow into her room with a note
and he's just like you'll hitmy daughter.
He's just like and she goesthat's just a risk we're gonna
have to take.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
That's my favorite line oh my gosh dude, like she
says it straight face too, likeit's just.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
There's so much like dry humor in this.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
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 breakout of, you know out of the
tower and you know like forge,you know kind of like captures
them.
There's a couple moments inthat one.
The first was like the hot tea,the hot tea part, like way we
laugh.

(56:23):
And then like when, when sofinalike put her finger in the cup,
he's like I didn't think you'regonna put your finger in the
cup.
And and then like when he, when, uh, they, they, they captured
it, and like they're about toget their heads chopped off,
hoga's like just like, oh, thatshe's like going over this, like
whole thing about this battleaxe, and like how he like cleans

(56:45):
I know obviously it's like it'sa diversion, but it's so funny
because it's so, like, specifictoo and like I think it was a
genuine interest.
Also because, like after, shelike just whoops down on it,
like on all of them, with nohelp from edgan, except for,
like at the end where he likehits one in the face, but like

(57:05):
he was there for moral support,she's like, oh, we need to get
some.
And he's like, I know, I know umlindsey doyle yes, dude, that
was, yeah, like there's just somany like little moments that I
like a lot, because the thingabout dnd is like there's a lot
of grand moments but sometimesthere's like little mini moments
that happen also that, like youknow, we'll be in between like

(57:29):
things happening and like in ourtravels.
You know, in my sessions the DMwill be, like you know, roll a
D20 and we'll see if you likehave an encounter and, like you
know, it's like those minormoments that kind of happen that
don't really affect too much ofthe greater story.
Sometimes it can, but a lot oftimes it doesn't.
But you know, I just felt likea lot of that charm was also

(57:52):
captured in this film and, dude,I find it insane that like we
haven't covered it in all thistime.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
It's like been yeah, it's been two years later yeah,
I do think that there's adungeons and dragons tv show
that's coming out I think that'sin the works.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
And then there's's also a D&D episode for Secret
Level.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
Explain what Secret Level is for those of our
audience.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
So we've talked about Secret Level a couple times.
Secret Level is an anthologyseries and it takes different
IPs, like different video games,and makes an episode out of it.
There's one for D&D, there'sone for Warhammer out of it,
there's one for dnd, there's onefor like warhammer, there's one

(58:38):
for, like pac-man, megaman.
You know like they tookdifferent ips, they made, like
you know, episodes for them, andso dnd is one of those, those
ips that they made an episodefor and then, yeah, they're
actually a go for a secondseason.
They did pretty well withPeople reviewed it pretty well,
so you definitely should hop onit.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
So Sean Levy, the guy behind Stranger Things, is
actually producing Netflix'sDungeons Dragons show.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Yeah, so that could be cool.
Yeah, and it is set in theForgotten Realms, just like
Baldur's Gate, just likealdersgate, just like honor
among thieves, uh he must havebeen a dnd fan to incorporate
that in I think so probably yeah, because, like stranger things
didn't have to like it wasn'tessential, it was just like uh,

(59:28):
it was the charm of the show.
So he didn't.
I don't think he wrote StrangerThings, 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 namesunder his belt.
But yeah, he's been around D&Dthrough the Duffer brothers and

(59:51):
stranger things.
But I don't know necessarily if, like, like how dp is.
Obviously, I mean if he's, ifhe's connected to the netflix
dungeons and dragons show, likeI'm assuming yeah, he has some
this is his like second show.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
That's got some like dnd influence, so right, oh yeah
any last thoughts on dungeonsand dragons.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Honor among thieves, guys.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
I feel there's a lot of thoughts.
It's just, this is like one ofthose movies that you can always
revisit, you know, and and justenjoy 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 achore.

(01:00:34):
It it was, you know, I meanwell, most of the stuff, but
like it was definitely like ajoy to come back to it.
But yeah, man, I think that ifany of y'all have listened to
this whole thing and have notseen the movie, there's a lot,
obviously, that we didn't coverabout it.
You know, like the biggestthing being the story, you know

(01:00:56):
it kind of shifts from Againtrying to, like, you know, get
his family back together, youknow, save his wife His wife was
killed and you know he's tryingto, like you know, bring her
back With this like tablet ofreawakening and then so his
priorities kind of shift Becausethere's a bigger thing
happening with sofina.
You know there's there's a lotto the story that we didn't talk

(01:01:17):
too much about, more about likednd as a whole and how this
movie is influenced by it.
But I think that it's worthwatching.
Even if you've listened to thiswithout seeing the movie,
definitely go see it andespecially watch this.
If you've listened to thiswithout seeing the movie.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
Definitely go see it and especially watch this if
you've never played DungeonsDragons, because, like Rich said
early on, you don't need anyprior knowledge about any of the
races, any of the characters,any of the factions within the
film.
You'll learn everything as yougo.
You'll learn about the RedWizards of Fae, you'll learn
about the Harpers, you'll learnabout For you go.
You'll learn about the, the redwizards of fey, you'll learn

(01:01:52):
about the harpers, you'll learnabout forge and neverwinter and
you know the games that theyplay later on.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
It's all there and how they're connected and yeah,
they do they do like really wellmotivations?

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
yeah, no, I, I, I, 100 agree and all the graphics
look fantastic and are fun towatch, and every character is
enjoyable.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
One thing that you mentioned, anthony, was that
this movie was highly influencedby D&D.
I also think D&D was highlyinfluenced by this movie because
they changed not necessarilybig rules or anything after this
came out, but they added a lotof lore and stuff that the movie
interjected into the widerworld of playable Dungeons,

(01:02:37):
dragons like NPCs and stuff.
So it just opened up more doorsfor D&D and I think that that's
pretty cool yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Rich, do you have any final thoughts on Dungeons
Dragons?

Speaker 3 (01:02:51):
No, I just think that you should all go down to your
local purveyor of snacks and youshould buy yourselves a bunch
of Slim Jims and go home andwatch this movie.
Like I just don't understand it.
You know, maybe buy yourselvesa potato just so you can just
root along with helga.

(01:03:12):
I, I, every.
It's just.
It's really great.
And I'm almost, I'm going to be43 in june and I can say that
this movie and this episode kindof made me regret not getting
into dungeons and dragons, butat the same time, if my
character would have died, Imight, might have been in prison
.
So probably better off, muchbetter off, that I didn't

(01:03:34):
actually ever get into it, butit does make me go like, wow,
I've missed out on somethingthat's truly, you know I love.
You said the Forgotten Realm,forgotten right.
Forgotten Realms, yeah, sothat's the you know fable.
I'm kind of getting old realmslike.

(01:03:54):
That's the you know fable.
I'm kind of getting old like.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
But I love that medieval, european-y like world,
you know it could if you everplayed everquest back in the day
, that was a dnd setting see Iwould.
That was around the time of ohworld of warcraft.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
That's the world of warcraft.
Let's not even let's not eventhat's the one where mr t was on
a commercial once for world ofwarcraft yeah, one point all
right, so that's all right.
See, I'm telling you, there wasliterally like when I saw
warcraft, I think, I was likethat's like a dnd thing.
I gotta be careful, you know.
Like oh, I mean, it's not, it'snot dnd, but but I I really I'm

(01:04:28):
glad, I'm very happy I got towatch this.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
Good.
Good, I'm happy, I'm glad.
All right, guys, be sure togive this podcast a five-star
review, specifically a juicy one.
Don't make it like my Slim Jim.
I'm sure other Slim Jims arejuicy, but this one didn't.
It wasn't.
It was a fairly dry Slim Jim,but I hope our show wasn't.

(01:04:51):
I hope our show was juicy andworthy of your five-star review.
So let us know if your podcastapp allows you to review.
Be sure to click down into ourshow notes to find out where you
can find us on social media andwe don't yet know what we're
covering next week, but you willbe the first to find out,
either on our socials or bysubscribing to the podcast and

(01:05:15):
picking up next week.
Anyway, guys, thank you.
Have a great night, have agreat day, wherever you are.

Speaker 3 (01:05:21):
Have a good one.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
Bye y'all, Slim Jim.