# True D&D style movies, comics and anime!



## tecnodemon (May 24, 2003)

Ok here is a question or challegnge for you fans out there. Can you list all the movies, comics, anime and computer games with the same feel and style as D&D? The D&D movie and Lord of the RIings and offical games out.
My list are:
Willow (Val Kimer)
Record of Lodoss War (anime)
Final Fantasy series (video game)
Warlands (comic)
Theses is what I came up with. What can add to the list?


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## Mark (May 24, 2003)

Some movies that I can name from the genre include Excalibur, Dragonslayer, The Princess Bride, The 13th Warrior, Time Bandits, The Beastmaster (the original movie and the series), Clash of the Titans, the two Conan movies, The Dark Crystal, Dragonheart, Dungeons and Dragons, Hawk The Slayer, Jabberwocky, Krull, Kull the Conqueror, Labyrinth, Ladyhawke, Legend, The Odyssey (mamy versions), The Raven, Red Sonya, Sinbad (several movies), and The Sword and the Sorcerer.


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## tecnodemon (May 24, 2003)

Well the tru D& style I am looking for the ones the mood and feel for D&D, like epic, fantastical and the oddness. have the non-human race as main caharceters, magic and the faithful.

I would agree on some of what you listed but not all. Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, Krull (maybe) and Legend the what I consider in the trueist sense of D&D.
The rest are just "d20" settings IMHO.


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## Mark (May 24, 2003)

tecnodemon said:
			
		

> *Well the tru D& style I am looking for the ones the mood and feel for D&D, like epic, fantastical and the oddness. have the non-human race as main caharceters, magic and the faithful.
> 
> I would agree on some of what you listed but not all. Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, Krull (maybe) and Legend the what I consider in the trueist sense of D&D.
> The rest are just "d20" settings IMHO. *




I admit to have stretched the feel a bit, but Conan (and Kull) not D&D?  Where ya been?   Robert E Howard's stories are one of the influences of the game as mentioned by Gygax himself in this post here-

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=708085&highlight=influences#post708085

Surely you're not telling me the man who helped invent the game is lying to us...?


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## Dagger75 (May 24, 2003)

I thing 13th Warrior is pretty close to a D&D game.  It had the rangers, fighters, and barbarians fighting against a group of savage beasts.

 So there were no Clerics or mages, with 13 fighter types in party do you really need a cleric 

 Princess Bride is D&D all way, to the screwy plans, over the top characters and modern jargon mixed into the dialouge.  Really listen to your gaming group sometimes when they talk to NPC's.

 Sword and Sorcerer, yup D&D.  Main characters first name Talon, some of our first D&D chacters were named something like that, come on admit it.

 Comics with the D&D feel

 Lets see Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance come to mind


The D&D movie had less a D&D feel than some of these movies. That not an opinion


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## John Crichton (May 24, 2003)

Shrek.  

Also in the same vein are Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves & Braveheart.  No real fantasy elements in Braveheart but look no further for a well-done medival set-piece.

Edit: Let's not forget Monty Python and the Holy Grail.


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## JoeGKushner (May 24, 2003)

The Berserk Anime and Manga are very close in a lot of ways.

I believe that Record of the Lodoss Wars has already been mentioned. Good stuff there. The second version (OVA I think), is probably a little better.

Some enjoy Slayers but I probably prefer Fenghusi Yugi (I think that's how it's spelled). 

Vampire Hunter D would be perfect for a Darwin's World/Fading Suns type deal. Gamma World?

I agree with Excaliber, Willow, Conan (first, not the second), Highlander (first, skip the rest), and I'm sure there are many, many others. Some of those movies we loved don't hold up quite as well. I saw the Sword and the Sorcerer I think with David Caradine with that three bladed sword. Man, what was I thinking?


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## tecnodemon (May 24, 2003)

Ok then show or tell me a movie , comic or anime that has not been mtioned that has the epic scope, oddness and all typical D&D style races and gods all in one! 

Conan has the look but not feel to me IMO.
Willow, Dark Crystal and Legend comes closer than Conan.
There is Historical Fantasy (Excalibur or 13th Warrior), Pulp Fantasy (Conan) and then there's D&D Fantasy (LOTR or Legend)


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## Mark (May 24, 2003)

tecnodemon said:
			
		

> *Ok then show or tell me a movie , comic or anime that has not been mtioned that has the epic scope, oddness and all typical D&D style races and gods all in one!
> 
> Conan has the look but not feel to me IMO. *




No offense but I can't help you...


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## Tarrasque Wrangler (May 24, 2003)

It's all about Cave Dwellers, yo.

"Ator fliiiiies, and so does my heart"


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## tecnodemon (May 28, 2003)

Let me rephase my oriignal question.
Take all the elements from the core D&D books, like the PHB, DMG and MM 1&2 and which movie that has been made be close or similar to earlier statement.
Lets say if there was a fantasy movie out there be american live action, american animated or anime that had all the elements from the d&D 3 core books which title would you pick?

Disregard Record or Lodoss War series and movies and Lord of the Rings.


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## krunchyfrogg (May 28, 2003)

Dungeons & Dragons



Dungeons & Dragons (Animated TV series)

Krull

Mazes and Monsters (kinda)


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## Tsyr (May 28, 2003)

Well... Elfquest is great. It's not QUITE "standard" DnD... Actualy, it's not even all that close... But it is kind of DnD-ish, and it's great fun... And elves (of a sort) are the main characters.


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## tecnodemon (May 29, 2003)

krunchyfrogg said:
			
		

> *Dungeons & Dragons
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Why Krull, out of curiosity?


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## tecnodemon (May 29, 2003)

D&D the movie is a given, I should have said disregard that too.


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## krunchyfrogg (May 29, 2003)

*RE: tecnodemon*

I guess Krull just hasa fantasy feel, but looking back, it really doesn't fit.  Heck, I think the whole point of this thread is to realize that there isn't any movie following D&D rules.

<font size="1">Removed sig.  Sigs posted more than 1/thread annoy me.</font>


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## tecnodemon (May 29, 2003)

yeah only a select few are out there.

I have heard rumors that there coming out with the old campaigns to movies/tv show soon.
Greyhawk - movie or series
Dragonlance - minieseries maybe
Forgotten Realms - live action show
Planescape - animated

But I still like to see non official D&D worlds, but still use the rules and concept be a movie, tv show, games or comics.


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## Dagger75 (May 29, 2003)

> Heck, I think the whole point of this thread is to realize that there isn't any movie following D&D rules.




 No I think it just made it clear that we all see D&D and role playing games differently.  My idea of a typical D&D game is different than Krunchfrogg's, Tysr and all the other posters.  To me 13th Warrior is a D&D game.  Braveheart is not. Not all my D&D games have elves, clerics or oddness.   What may be odd to you may happen everyday in my game and visa versa.

 So I guess there is no typical D&D move.


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## Glyfair (May 29, 2003)

To tell the truth, I think the first thing a "D&D" style movie must have is a "party."  If it focuses too much on a single character, it loses too much of the feel.

Although my memories of it are vague, one that seemed to fit the bill was "Hawk the Slayer."  Very cheesy, but very fun.  It had a party with each member having it's own speciality.


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## Klaus (May 29, 2003)

Can't believe no one mentioned this:

Sojourn - comic published by CrossGen, starring Arwyn, a former Royal Archer. After her family is slain by the troll army of a conquering undead tyrant, she sets off on a quest to find an artifact that can bring back the legendary hero that stopped the same undead tyrant before he was undead. She is accompanied by her faithful, non-speaking dog Kreeg, and Gareth the Bowman, an infamous one-eyed archer. As an extra help, a mysterious woman named Neven hads her the Bow of Ayden (that's the legendary hero), a mighty weapon that only Arwyn can wield. And after squaring off against a red dragon, Gareth was able to get himself a bane (dragons) longsword.

Can you GET more DnD?


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## Viking Bastard (May 29, 2003)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Well, many of MY games are kinda like that.


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## WayneLigon (May 29, 2003)

tecnodemon said:
			
		

> *Let me rephase my oriignal question.
> Take all the elements from the core D&D books, like the PHB, DMG and MM 1&2 and which movie that has been made be close or similar to earlier statement.
> Lets say if there was a fantasy movie out there be american live action, american animated or anime that had all the elements from the d&D 3 core books which title would you pick?
> 
> Disregard Record or Lodoss War series and movies and Lord of the Rings. *




Given those criteria, that narrows it down quite a lot. Very few movies have that 'party' structure that D&D has and fewer than that have a magic-weilding 'PC'. That cuts out Ladyhawke, Dragonslayer, Princess Bride, Legend, Krull, Storm Riders, many others. 

Willow probably comes the closest to qualifying of any major release: it has (some) magic, magic items, a (very loose) party structure including a main cast member (PC) that is at least potentially capable of magic.

Hawk The Slayer is also close; warrior, a rogue, a wizard (but, as I remember, no real D&D-type casting of spells?), etc; a quest, a magic item, and such.

The D&D Animated series of course qualifies, but barely since we can't really say Presto knows anything about magic. That more than anything ruined the show for me: making the wizard a fumbling little useless bit of monster-fodder.


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## Aaron2 (May 29, 2003)

My fave is "The Barbarians" from the late 80s. Very stupid and very D&D.


Aaron


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## Villano (May 30, 2003)

JoeGKushner said:
			
		

> * I saw the Sword and the Sorcerer I think with David Caradine with that three bladed sword. Man, what was I thinking? *




I have no idea what you're thinking because David Caradine was never in Sword and the Sorcerer.  You're thinking of Lee Horsley. 

David Caradine did do a fantasy pic that had a three-*breasted* woman, though.  Can't think of its title for the life of me, and I even have it on tape somewhere...

Hopefully, you were just mixing up the actors and can tell the difference between breasts and swords.  If you can't, let me in on one of your games because I bet they're alot of fun!  "Suddenly, she whips out her double D's and attacks!  You take 1d12 bludgeoning damage!"


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## Villano (May 30, 2003)

Tarrasque Wrangler said:
			
		

> *It's all about Cave Dwellers, yo.
> 
> "Ator fliiiiies, and so does my heart" *




This, along with Manos and Space Mutiny, is one of my favorite MST3Ks.

"Why is she limping?" - JOEL

"Because she got shot in the arm with an arrow." - CROW

On a serious note, by God, that movie is just like the first D&D games we played as kids!  A vague, magical item.  3 characters that are capable of overthrowing an army.  A bad guy with no particular motivation.  Some side quests.  

And a hang gliding barbarian.


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## Pants (May 30, 2003)

Anime: Rune Soldier
The main party even consists of the standard DnD party, 1 Thief, 1 Fighter, 1 Cleric, and 1 Wizard (err kinda).  Throw in lots of goblins, demons, ruin raiding, gratuitous nudity (errr), panty jokes, and stupid faces and you probably have the most accurate DnD to screen translation ever.  Plus it doesn't take itself seriously.


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## S'mon (May 30, 2003)

'Good movie' and 'D&D-like movie' are not the same thing!

Eg the second Conan movie was much more D&Dish than the first IMO, although the first is a better movie.  'Hawk the Slayer' is extremely D&Dish, it's a movie I like a lot although some people put it in the 'so bad it's good' camp.  It was clearly inspired by D&D and/or the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks of the era, along with Tolkien of course.  'The Fellowship of the Ring' movie, with its orc fighter antagonist, cheesy dwarf and self-consciously 'cool' elf ranger, was very D&Dish, much moreso than the original novel IMO.

Movies and RPGs are different art forms, being a really good movie and faithfully modelling the D&D game may not be wholly compatible...


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## satori01 (May 31, 2003)

Conan the Destroyer absolutely has the D&D feel, I always know when that movie has been on TV or someone has rented it in my gaming group, as the next session some npc is getting a weapon thrown at them with the words "Enough Talk" being uttered.

Combat obssesed barbarian
Clepto Thief
monkish chick with a quarterstaff
Cowardly befuddled wizard
a room full of enchanted mirrors and a monster
Big summoned Demon via  evil queen
and of course the true element of all D&D campaigns:

The Best NBA center of all time wielding a funky exotic toucan sam bird beak.

I still dream of a day were James Cameron will direct Arnold in a third Conan Movie, before age shrinks him down to seth green size.


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## tecnodemon (May 31, 2003)

WayneLigon said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Given those criteria, that narrows it down quite a lot. Very few movies have that 'party' structure that D&D has and fewer than that have a magic-weilding 'PC'. That cuts out Ladyhawke, Dragonslayer, Princess Bride, Legend, Krull, Storm Riders, many others.
> 
> ...




No keep Legend in the list for certian reasons. There is few magic but is it close to what I am looking for. Krull maybe, still not sure, but the Cyclops guy was my favorite charcater in the film. Come to think of it, they had a wziard, of course he the fool type who shapeshifts into animals. And of course they had laser guns, maybe that throws people off. That can be said thery were magical rods that shoot magic missles.  So those two would fit.


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## tecnodemon (May 31, 2003)

satori01 said:
			
		

> *Conan the Destroyer absolutely has the D&D feel, I always know when that movie has been on TV or someone has rented it in my gaming group, as the next session some npc is getting a weapon thrown at them with the words "Enough Talk" being uttered.
> 
> Combat obssesed barbarian
> Clepto Thief
> ...




King Conan to a theater near you.. already in the process.


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## Jamdin (May 31, 2003)

Villano said:
			
		

> *
> 
> I have no idea what you're thinking because David Caradine was never in Sword and the Sorcerer.  You're thinking of Lee Horsley.
> 
> ...




I do believe the David Carradine's fantasy movie was _The Warrior and the Sorceress_ (1984) and she had four breasts.


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## Villano (May 31, 2003)

Jamdin said:
			
		

> *
> 
> I do believe the David Carradine's fantasy movie was The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984) and she had four breasts. *




Hmmm...Do you think they were maybe trying to cash in on The Sword And The Sorcerer with that title?

And, after I wrote my original post, it occurred to me that it might have been 4 instead of 3, but I couldn't be sure. 

And you think buying regular chainmail bikinis is hard.


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## Hand of Evil (Jun 1, 2003)

Scorpian King - D&D all the way!
Circle of Iron - Kung fu fantasy

What was the name of the movie with the guy that had a sword with three blades?


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## Dagger75 (Jun 1, 2003)

What was the name of the movie with the guy that had a sword with three blades?

 That would be Sword and the Sorcerer.   Remeber the blades also shot out of the sword and flew towrds there targets.  That movie also had on one of the guys that was on that Murphry Brown TV show.


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## BrickBronze_E-Genasi (Mar 11, 2011)

It may be a kinda kiddy cartoon but i find Dave the barbarian to be rather D&D styled. It was rather good for a kids show. Had a magic user, a barbarian (though he was very unbarbarian like), a dark lord (Dark lord Chuckles the silly piggy), an evil princess, lots of random stuff happening, a dragon familiar, a magic talking sword.


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## BrickBronze_E-Genasi (Mar 11, 2011)

Another one that just occured to me is Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog.  it's kinda like D&D meets power rangers.


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## Thunderfoot (Mar 14, 2011)

> Another one that just occurred to me is Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog. it's kinda like D&D meets power rangers.



I just threw up a little.

Movies that have the D&D feel (party of characters, epic fantasy, weird humor):
Hawk the Slayer
Willow
Krull (no demi-humans, and horrible music, but still)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Mulan (yes the Disney version.  Okay it may be based on a Chinese myth, but the way they handled the writing, someone was playing D&D during the scripting)
Dungeons & Dragons (the Saturday morning cartoon series) - trite yes, but used actual items, monsters and memes from the game - mostly because EGG was in California at the time as a technical adviser.
Slayers - while I don't actually enjoy this series, every episode was based on their running D&D campaign.  Evidently some of the dialog was word for word from character encounters.
D&D : Wrath of the Dragon God - No academy awards but at least it was better and truer to the source material than the first one.
Conan the Destroyer -  Not as good a movie as the first, but much closer to D&D. (The AD&D module was fairly faithful to the movie too).
Legend - okay so the faeries were almost as tall as Tom Cruise.  But Tim Curry as the evil demon - pure freaking magic.  Besides, there were different races, magic and a party rescuing the princess (and a unicorn) - sounds like D&D to me.
The Dark Crystal - very much on the fringe but I had nightmares about the skeckies for weeks after I saw that movie.
The Neverending Story - The first one was awesome, I even named one of my early character's Atreyu  (the rest don't qualify)

Movies mentioned here that DON'T fit :
D&D the movie - utter crap with a thin veneer of marketing - no that's too good a review
The Dragonlance cartoon - Part cartoon, part live action all garbage.  And I thought the novels were bad. *rolleyes*
Beastmaster - Both the movie and the TV series.  While I liked both, they never felt like D&D to me (maybe more like GURPs).


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## Laith Amekir (Jul 29, 2011)

*Some D&D movies and Anime:*

Anime:

Record of Lodoss War
Rune Soldier:
Final Fantasy Unlimited (Not all that great but hey)
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Magic Knight Rayearth (Not all that great but it has some good elements)
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles 
Peacemaker Kurogane
Tower of Druaga
X
Samurai 7
Rurouni Kenshin
Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Slayers

Movies:
Willow
Legend
Krull
Star Wars
and many more

TV
Angel
Buffy
Game of Thrones
Supernatural
Merlin


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## Argyle King (Jul 29, 2011)

Dragon Age - Not so much the tone or feel of the story, but the first game (IMO) captured the feel of playing a D&D character well with the specializations at certain levels being similar to paragon paths.  The second game's exaggerated and over the top hacky slashy style would fit pretty well into D&D.

Dragon Ball Z - with the teleporting around, crazy wire-fu fighting, and the powers the PCs can unleash, I can see a of the current D&D ideals.




I would agree with Thunderfoot on Beastmaster.  Though, I would also say that I believe the world of Conan would fit better into a different system.  While Conan himself is larger than life, and has somewhat unbelievable abilities, I don't feel that the tone and feel of the world around him matches the current D&D mechanics very well.


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## RainOfSteel (Jul 30, 2011)

tecnodemon said:


> What can add to the list?



Pirates of the Caribbean (pirates/high seas-type D&D)

Howl's Moving Castle

Eragon

Beowulf

Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Oriental Adventures)

Storm Riders (Oriental Adventures)

Red Sonja (not the greatest movie, but it fits)

Tales from Earthsea

Battlechasers

Erik the Viking (more than a few campaigns go like this)


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## NewJeffCT (Aug 1, 2011)

I think the first Conan has to be in there - just the score alone makes it worthy of inclusion on the list... 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZY2mRG5mzg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZY2mRG5mzg[/ame]


The second D&D movie - "Wrath of the Dragon God" was certainly very D&D in its feel. Not a great movie, but worlds better than the first.  It has the mixed race party (elf and the short rogue guy who may be a halfling), and mixed party - rogue, cleric, fighter, wizard and barbarian.  It has a lich, an evil archmage, goblins and (of course) dragons.

The Lord of the Rings movies, of course, were prime examples of D&D movies - mixed party - dwarf, elf, human, hobbit - wizard, ranger, fighters and rogues - orcs, goblins, half-orcs, demons, trolls, etc.  And, it has the quest to destroy the ring... plus, the four hobbits all get more powerful (go up in level) as the story goes on (too bad there was no Scouring of the Shire in the movie to really show that)


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## NewJeffCT (Aug 1, 2011)

dupe post - sorry


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## apoptosis (Aug 2, 2011)

The Archer: Fugitive From the Empire. (George Kennedy was in it)

It had

Fighter with magic bow (and explody arrows)

Swarthy thief

and a 

Sorceress who could magically create animals

Defined D&D for me.


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## Herschel (Aug 2, 2011)

King Arthur with Clive Owen. That one always gets me in the mood for D&D. All the knights had different fighting styles/gear and worked well together in a party fashion even though Arthur was the leader.


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## MarkB (Aug 9, 2011)

It's a long time (too long) since I last saw it, but I seem to recall _The Flight of Dragons_ as being quite D&Dish.


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## Meatboy (Aug 12, 2011)

Avatar the last Airbender, the show not the terrible movie.

It had magic, a mixed party of heroes (despite having one main hero) though mostly the heroes would be wizards or sorcerers of some kind in DnD. The party grows with power over time and are trying to defeat an evil empire. 

The party fighter even bemoans the fact that compared to all the magic users he is terribly under powered.


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## Zaukrie (Aug 13, 2011)

What we really need is a good list of what is available as streaming on netflix....


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## MarkB (Aug 15, 2011)

Meatboy said:


> Avatar the last Airbender, the show not the terrible movie.
> 
> It had magic, a mixed party of heroes (despite having one main hero) though mostly the heroes would be wizards or sorcerers of some kind in DnD. The party grows with power over time and are trying to defeat an evil empire.
> 
> The party fighter even bemoans the fact that compared to all the magic users he is terribly under powered.




I'm halfway through watching this series for the first time, and I agree it's a good example. There's a definite feeling that the protagonists have all gained levels over time, and the series doesn't pander to casual viewing by maintaining the status quo - once someone gains a capability, they _will_ use and hone it through subsequent episodes.


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## ggroy (Aug 16, 2011)

I recently finished watching the dvd set of the tv series "Crusade", which was a spinoff of Babylon 5.  (I haven't really watched Babylon 5).

Despite its cheesiness in some aspects, Crusade does have sort of a "D&D in space" feel to it.  It features a magic user/wizard type as a regular character.


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## Charcoal Phoenix (Aug 23, 2011)

I dont think anybody has mentioned The Gamers, or The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising. =P


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