Movies to Game By.

Heh.  That title makes, like, no sense at all.  Hey, it's almost midnight on a weeknight, so work with me.

The conceit is to bring up some of the films that I, as a gamer, think are way cool... err, of interest to the serious roleplayer or gamemaster.  Good pacing, proper setting, that sort of thing.  This is, of course, more than a little lame - but that's what we provide here at WLM: content so lame that it needs a cane.

First off?  Return of the Jedi.  Yeah, the Ewoks were the first sign that things had gone, terribly, horribly wrong somehow - but the 'let's break Han out of Jabba's palace!' sequence is amazingly gamer-like in its approach to problem solving.  Which is to say, incredibly convoluted, overly dependent on everything going right at once and not so much hoping for miracles as relying on them.  Plus, banter ("Han!" "Luke!" "How're we doing?" "Same as always." "That bad, huh?")  and large amounts of confused energy weapons fire in close quarters, complete with the destruction of the barge for no real reason except to prevent the party from keeping it for themselves.
If you've ever wondered where your players got some of their more interesting habits from, it was probably this sequence.  Because they all saw it.  At impressionable ages.

Then, of course, there is the similar idolization of Ghostbusters.  I have seen this movie referenced in umpteen different gaming bibliographies as an excellent example of how to run humor in a team setting.  I need to get something off my chest, here: they're absolutely right to do so.  The movie nicely handles the problem of providing interesting characters without overbalancing the overall team effort, which is why we all remember it fondly.  I was going to add 'despite the cheesy special effects, but, really, they made it work for them. 
Also, there are unlicensed nuclear accelerators - one wonders just where and when a license could be found - and the open and use carrying of somewhat inaccurate plasma weapons.

I'm starting to fade, so I'll break the Rule of Three and just list a few more.  I'll discuss them in more  detail later:

The Mummy (and sequel, surprisingly enough)
Fellowship of the Ring ("They brought a cave troll" resonated, man)
National Treasure - OK, this one needs to be highlighted.  This is the movie that the Dungeons and Dragons movie should have been, presuming that D&D was urban conspiracy instead of medieval fantasy gaming.
And the Die Hard films (Go look for extraneous details in any of those films.  You might find one.  You won't find three.)

Comments

[Catsy]

National Treasure. What an unrecognized work of genius that was! Oh, it wasn't that it was a /great/ movie, but you're spot-on about it being a total gamer film--I've /been/ on GM snipe hunts like that before. :D

I can't really argue with any of your other examples. I would probably offer up Aliens as a quintessential sci-fi horror dungeon hack, at least up until everyone dies and Ripley goes solo--and even that works if you're playing a last-man-standing campaign and really trying to kill off the party.

And come on, who hasn't wanted to be a space marine at some point? You get to carry the greatest rifle ever made.

Actually, I would quibble a bit with Die Hard as being unworkable for a gaming group (unless your group was playing the terrorists--now that would be interesting). But if we're going to expand our horizons towards inspiration, I submit the SciFi Channel's Invisible Man series as not only having the best banter outside of Firefly or The West Wing, but buddy chemistry to rival the Lethal Weapon movies. Gamers should study this series, particularly once Vincent Ventresca and Paul Ben-Victor start to settle into their characters a few episodes in. Pure gold for the first season, regrettably downhill in the second.

[Moe Lane]

"Actually, I would quibble a bit with Die Hard as being unworkable for a gaming group"

Very possibly: but as a reference for GMs it's pure gold. That series used its surroundings in a way not often seen; everything that you were shown was there for a reason, and you were given a fair chance to work out the plot twists ahead of time.

Plus, the bit with "Now I have a machine gun too. Ho Ho Ho"? Classic gaming trash-talking there.

As for Aliens: honestly, they could've made a kickass movie out of just the Space Marines - and, no, they didn't and just called it Starship Troopers; I will ban defenders of that film* - but the first two movies of that series are both gaming fun. As for Invisible Man: what I saw of it I liked. Particularly the bit with the W-2 forms in the first episode. :)

Moe

*Probably not, but don't roll those bones. I had to be tied to a chair and fed vodka before they could get me to watch that movie.

[Anarch]

I had to be tied to a chair and fed vodka before they could get me to watch that movie.

Man, you and Jaymiel have an... open relationship.

[Prodigal]

I'd recommend The Boondock Saints, as long as we're talking gaming movies.

The only question is whether it's Connor and Murph who are the PCs, or Smecker, or even maybe Rocco.

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