In this episode, we pay homage to fantasy movies in general (like the fun Mythica series) and Dungeons and Dragons movies and games. Yes, there is a scene in a tavern...

We both love these types of movies and games, so we were really looking forward to the chance to play around in this genre. 

Dungeons and Dragons on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons

The Dungeons and Dragons Movie on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_(2000_film)

Mythica on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Mythica-Quest-Heroes-Robert-Jayne/dp/B00ZN31MK6

Segment 1: 04:38

Segment 2: 09:55

Segment 3: 16:25

Start of show: 25:18

Improv Game - Ding: 25:24

Improv Game - Emotional Lists: 30:58

Improv Game - Superheroes: 39:43

Improv Game - Best of Times, Worst of Times: 48:02

Improv Game - Cutting Room: 58:30

End of show, into announcements: 1:18:55

Subscribe to the podcast: 

Our Website: www.AvishAndMike.com

Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143183833647812

Avish’s site: www.AvishParashar.com 

Mike’s site: www.MikeWorthMusic.com/

Avish: Alright, so segment one - Discussing the genre tropes alright, 

Avish: So now we're going to spend five minutes just talking about the commonalities cliches tropes of the genre and it's something we're well versed in so Mike.

Avish: When you think of a fantasy dungeons and dragons style movie what comes to mind.

Mike: Well, first it's almost always a party based a party based system, even though there is usually one major well in the film there's usually one major protagonist but this protagonist always has to be supported by.

Mike: The various specialist right there's always going to be the tank or the fighter the wizard the crafty rogue you know I mean like we don't even need. To be in there.

Avish: yeah very in thief and.

Mike: And acrobat.

Mike: Right, so all that you know clerical that stuff as a matter of fact, the mythic I think we had cleric wizard fighter in thief I think was the was the Holy quadruple.

Avish: Another thief is over the fighter user client on the magic user and yeah.

Avish: I would say the hero is often not always but often some kind of a chosen one or you know.

Mike: or gifted uniquely or something like that yeah.

Avish: yeah it's like they're special.

Avish: it's not random.

Avish: it's not just Frodo you know carrying a ring it's like.

Avish: yeah oh my God you're able to do that, and no one can do that cool.

Mike: yeah yeah totally the magic in the the part of job is that magic does exist it's not like one of these conan ones where.

Mike: magic is kind of like it's like low fantasy or magic kind of reviled no no there's there's magic and there's you know.

Avish: it's around knows about it, it exists and it's a big part of the story.

Mike: yeah exactly uh.

Avish: So we're gonna there's monsters usually often a dragon or.

Avish: Yes, troll like some kind of big bad monster.

Mike: yep there's gonna be there's gonna be.

Mike: The monster scale up through the movie so the initial attacks are with little things like orcs and knowles and all that stuff and then they usually encounter a couple of like sub bosses right like Trolls or like a minute or something like that.

Mike: And you know that it culminates in like usually an epic battle when they go up against the head bad guy was good to second there's one epic battle against a large evil monster, where the party has to use their resources and come together.

Mike: Oh that's The other thing the party kind of has to learn to trust each other and there's like you know some act one, I want to say bickering but like posturing and kind of things like.

Avish: That I don't know for my sake of time, a lot of times in these the  party is formed over the course of the movie that may take too much time for our improv format, you know, but a lot of times like Oh, they meet the thief Oh, then they meet the fighter Oh, then they meet the cleric. I mean may or may not have that.

Mike: yeah it's kind of in Bremen time musicians, you know there's always a single had bad guy even if he's the member of a larger cult or a larger government there's always a head bad guy which they have to take down at the end of the movie.

Avish: That is always.  Either a wizard or hazmat.

Mike: Yes, yes, exactly so let's just for the sake of this just make sure the BAT let's just had a bad guy be a wizard or spell a spell caster yeah.

Avish: Oh, he may or may not also be the monster or the monster, maybe a secondary.

Mike: Right his lieutenant um let me think what else, what else what are some other okay that's the setup the tropes the adventures they go through their i'm.

Avish: busy yes here's the like quests or or obstacles there's there's almost always a journey right there trying to get from point A to Point B.

Mike: Yes, um it depends upon how deep you want to get we actually refer back to even crawl for this.

Mike: there's two there's two reasons you do the quests in the shows or other information quests trying to find out where the guy lives or they're stockpiling quests it's like I gotta get the magic scroll or I got to get the destiny hammer.

Avish: Right, I think it's yeah I think it's a, I think it's much more cliche to say we have to go find the weapon to use to defeat the whatever.

Mike: yeah the glade. If the glue well, what do you think um there's all you know all the characters are all the secondary characters that show up our character chores and or pastiche is there's like very little like. There's very little thought going into depth with these characters that's half the fun is that you're like.

Avish: Oh it's a toy J.

Mike: One knows a drunken fighter right he's here's a here's a half length okay he's going to be a nimble tongue, you know sneaky little TV kind of guy right.

Avish: yeah yeah there's not a lot of not game of thrones or each character is like very complex yeah.

Mike: or like ever on the whole point of the DVD Rom was like oh yeah you can have like a good cobalt and an evil Elf.

Avish: You know kind of thing yeah that's gonna give us wisecracking your fighters off your cleric has overly pious like it's.

Mike: yeah it's got no money we break it up this way this, this is an astonishingly like simplistic set of tropes we've we've broken down movies, that have been a lot more nuanced than this.

Avish: yeah this just gets complicated because when you got a party got and then like it's like a lot can be a lot of plot can be a lot of characters none of those things are particularly deep or complex.

Avish: New Right, and that is the end of our five minute timer.

Mike: sounds good to me.

Avish: Alright, so now, this is where we spend five minutes hashing out creating an outline for the movie we're going to do we're going to do we're going to use a four act structure which is similar three but we take the big actor and break it into two halves so we have for X. We're going to cover the outline now but because this is improv and improv comedy with games and we're things we may veer from this, but this is our kind of our kind of lifeline will use so let's reset the timer.

Mike: yep one resume to change any and everything.

Avish: Exactly alright so to discuss the outline we usually start with a trailer or prologue I feel when you're talking epic fantasy slash dungeon dragons the almost it's almost always a prologue.

Mike: I think, so too, if you want to set the stage.

Avish: yeah that prologue is usually something involving either the bad guy or the history or the object.

Mike: Yes, yes, the pro level you either be showing the bad guy and why is evil as nefarious plan right or a scene with the macguffin object.

Avish: mode this it's like the bad guy you see him being nefarious like he's trying to implement his big world ending plan, but it fails, and then you realize it fails because Oh, we don't have the macguffin.

Mike: Right.

Avish: He realized Oh, you know where is the macguffin and then.

Mike: yeah now the only thing is in in fantasy oftentimes the macguffin device it's a subtle difference does actually have some useful powers like.

Avish: yeah real macguffin like has no actual impact.

Mike: Right, the Maltese falcon right it's everybody wants it know or or the The case of golden the tarantino film.

Avish: Pulp Fiction right yeah this is yeah it actually does something but yeah you'll kind of learn about it, and maybe the bad guy.

Mike: yep alright so act one.

Avish: Act one we obviously meet the hero  almost always some kind of a simple villager.

Mike: yeah this is hero's journey 101 right it's like the everyday you know i'm, then you know let's play the hero's journey card like they get a call to adventure somebody helped me obi wan kenobi you're my only hope so i'm like that.

Avish: they're usually yeah either they they stumble across either the either the objects or the bad guys, you know, like um you know they're out in the world, and you know they see someone being attacked, so they intervene or they kind of fall in a cave and they find this object like Oh, what is it so.

Mike: yeah yeah i'm.

Avish: accidentals how they get.

Avish: Initially embroiled in the.

Mike: Right and then you know what here's what's gonna happen, I think the hero needs to go out to fix the evil, but as woefully unequipped and must recruit help that's how the party's gonna kind of right.

Avish: yeah so at the end of act one is when he kind of sets out probably on his own, and I was actually kind of start gathering up the party.

Mike: yeah exactly so it says how to stop the body. But is it under prepared needs help.

Avish: Yes, busy, and act one something bad will happen, it will be kind of thrust out to.

Mike: who's literally is like reading like Star Wars it's like. it's like Jesus is like.

Avish: How to gather his pilot and is wiki and. Active active.

Mike: gathers his party and then a series now for the impromptu we just want to be like a couple of requests.

Avish: And I know you like one question act by one question each. You know act like act act to me will be the quest to find out where the object is And then act three will be them questing to get the object.

Mike: yeah.

Avish: back to the quest to learn act threes the quest to get but then at three is going to end in some kind of a encounter disaster where they. You know, lose to the bad guy or they lose the object like they get it, but then they lose it like a bad guy gets it, and so the kind of all is lost moment.

Mike: yeah yeah yeah What did you these happens, they lose either either lose the macguffin. or bad guy captures some of the party.

Avish: or both.

Mike: or all your all right, you know, are all the party right, you know and then what happens in act for is the ingenious rescue of party. Requiring.

Avish: And then the final confrontation.

Mike: Or the macguffin yep and then final confrontation. Which is almost always one of two things it's a big. Big bad monster fight. Right or a stop the big bad evil guy plans. timed it's almost always like the rituals happening and.

Avish: As yeah there's urgency and usually there's some kind of twist on how to beat the bad guy it's not just like oh I killed him with my sword it's usually like oh I realized that if I you know kill his cat that will force him and i'll be his familiar so he'll be dead, then.

Mike: This factory, because the.

Avish: last thing i'll say runs out of time here is that X. X to certainly and even in act three you know the hero is often like.  ineffectual insecure lacking confidence and act, the kind of the finale is where he steps into his or her accepts his role and confidence and realizes, the key to his power.

Mike: Yes, and and the and the last other one to that is a party has trouble in the beginning kind of finding its groove.  But the PowerPoint have asked for, is that the parties working together smoothly as a team they figured out each other's strengths in the way to support each other that's a really important part for good. fantasy right it's okay if they're if they're screwing up in the afternoon at three and they're like fighting against that fighting, but like they're not.

Avish: optimizing but they're optimized by at for. Alright awesome all right good, that is the end of our outlining days.

Mike: so simple when you put it. In a fantasy novel.