Movie Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) co-written and co-directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein

Edgin (Chris Pine) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) are prisoners in an Icewind Dale prison. They turned to a life of thievery to make ends meet but for a good reason. Edgin was a Harper, a group that does good (including taking down bad guys) without reward. His wife was okay with that. They had a child named Kira (Chloe Coleman). Eventually, some bad guys came for revenge on Edgin, killing his wife. Edgin had a bad year trying to raise Kira when he ran into Holga and they started a life of petty theft. They put a team together to do bigger jobs, eventually getting caught. They break out of jail and quest to save his daughter, who has been taken by the con-man from their team, Forge (Hugh Grant). Forge has basically adopted her and told lies about Edgin to win her affection and make her hate Edgin. He's also become mayor of Neverwinter, where he has a new scheme to make himself even more wealthy. He's using the help of a Red Wizard (Daisy Head) who has her own agenda. Edgin and Holga put together a new team to save the day.

The movie is a fun action romp, with plenty of comedy and action set-pieces. Fans of D&D will enjoy seeing classic creatures like an owl-bear and a gelatinous cube, along with famous places like Neverwinter and the Underdark, along with other familiar details. The story is so straightforward that non-fans won't get lost. Pine is his usual charming self. Grant makes a good villain. There are no particularly deep or resonant themes, just a fun adventure story set in a detailed and creative world.

Recommended, highly for Dungeons & Dragons fans.

Book Review: Rise of the Dungeon Master by D. Kushner et al.

Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D written by David Kushner and illustrated by Koren Shadmi

Dungeons and Dragons is, alongside with The Lord of the Rings, one of the seminal works in the fantasy genre, giving the genre both popularity and eventually respectability in the later half of the twentieth century. The game system's story is told along with the life of Gary Gygax, one of the creators of D&D. He had his gaming start playing war games. He played various games and even started a convention in his home town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He had the idea for a medieval-era game where some of the miniatures represented an individual hero who would take multiple hits to be eliminated. The game slowly morphed as he collaborated with Dave Arneson into a role playing adventure game. Getting the game published was so challenging that they formed their own company, TSR, to release the game. Dungeons and Dragons became an underground hit, eventually hitting the mainstream, though not always for the best reasons. James Egbert's disappearance and eventual suicide was blamed on the game even though Egbert had plenty of emotional issues that were more significant contributors to his choice. The book continues through to the deaths of Arneson (who had become estranged from Gygax and D&D) and Gygax.

The book is told as if the reader is playing a role playing game. Various chapters are seen from the perspectives of Gygax, Arneson, William Dear (the private investigator in the Egbert case), and others. The style is fun and engaging. The art is fairly standard comic book art and works well to tell the story.

Recommended.