A New Dungeons & Dragons Movie Clip Works the Graveyard Shift

With every single video that comes out for this film, I am more and more convinced that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is just an amalgamation of the most common pitfalls in any given D&D campaign. Is it as funny watching it on screen as it is when you’re playing it out with friends? That remains to be seen. But for now, enjoy Chris Pine’s Bard making a fool of himself in a graveyard.

Oh, Edgin, you beautiful dumb-dumb. You can’t be that beautiful and not have your Intelligence stat suffer. Simon the Sorcerer was very clear; you can ask the corpse five questions. And what do you do?

Big D&D nerds will quibble about whether or not sorcerers can cast “Speak With Dead” (it’s traditionally a Cleric spell) and whether or not there should be incense burning as this happens, but whatever. The fact remains that they are in a graveyard that looks like a Sam Raimi setpiece from Army of Darkness, shit-talking with an animated corpse in what might be the most fan service interaction we’ve seen yet from the film. This might actually be breaking the “no meta” rule that the directors said wouldn’t happen, but I’m not about to hold it against them. Rules are arbitrary, after all.

Am I convinced that this film is going to be funny? No. Am I convinced this film is going to be a ride and a half as it tries to navigate the pitfalls of attempting to narratively explain all the arbitrary rules of D&D to mass audiences? Yes. There’s a huge difference between creating limits in a combat simulator and seeing them play out on screen, but I’m sure it’s going to be an absolute trip watching the film attempt to explain spell slots.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves comes to theaters on March 31.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

With every single video that comes out for this film, I am more and more convinced that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is just an amalgamation of the most common pitfalls in any given D&D campaign. Is it as funny watching it on screen as it is when you’re playing it out with friends? That remains to be seen. But for now, enjoy Chris Pine’s Bard making a fool of himself in a graveyard.

Oh, Edgin, you beautiful dumb-dumb. You can’t be that beautiful and not have your Intelligence stat suffer. Simon the Sorcerer was very clear; you can ask the corpse five questions. And what do you do?

Big D&D nerds will quibble about whether or not sorcerers can cast “Speak With Dead” (it’s traditionally a Cleric spell) and whether or not there should be incense burning as this happens, but whatever. The fact remains that they are in a graveyard that looks like a Sam Raimi setpiece from Army of Darkness, shit-talking with an animated corpse in what might be the most fan service interaction we’ve seen yet from the film. This might actually be breaking the “no meta” rule that the directors said wouldn’t happen, but I’m not about to hold it against them. Rules are arbitrary, after all.

Am I convinced that this film is going to be funny? No. Am I convinced this film is going to be a ride and a half as it tries to navigate the pitfalls of attempting to narratively explain all the arbitrary rules of D&D to mass audiences? Yes. There’s a huge difference between creating limits in a combat simulator and seeing them play out on screen, but I’m sure it’s going to be an absolute trip watching the film attempt to explain spell slots.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves comes to theaters on March 31.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.