Lord of the Rings explained as a game of Dungeons and Dragons is a nerdy delight
A chap called Brennan has taken the (occasionally very convoluted) plot of Lord of the Rings and tried to explain it in the style of a bunch of people playing Dungeons and Dragons.
The confusing parts of Lord of the Rings start to make a lot more sense when you realize it's actually just a transcribed #DnD campaign. THREAD:
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
And if you ever spent a moment playing D&D – don’t pretend you didn’t – then it’s an absolute delight.
1.
1) Starts with a long, low-level adventure of just getting out of The Shire and getting the ring to Rivendell. DM originally prepped a low-level hobbit campaign for their roommates who had never played before.
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
2.
2) DM lets their friend Steve play an OP wizard character from a previous campaign because Steve is super busy IRL and only found out he could play at the last minute, but everyone is into it because Steve rules.
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
3.
3) Steve is clearly a touring musician IRL, because Gandalf is constantly dipping out of sessions for extremely weak in-game reasons. Steve also keeps writing original songs for the campaign world, which is why there’s a goddamn new elf-song on every other page.
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
4.
4) Word gets out that a fun campaign is going on. DM agrees to let Rachel play a badass ranger, she’s so amped that she immediately writes 40 pages of backstory. DM reads it and thinks “This is honestly more compelling than what I had planned. Is this the campaign now?”
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
5.
5) Meanwhile, three other close friends find out Rachel is joining and pressure DM to let them play too. DM caves immediately.
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
6.
6) DM responds to overwhelmingly large 9 person party by completely shifting the tone of the campaign and giving a wild, over-the-top plot hook. “The ONLY WAY to SAVE the WORLD is to take this SPECIFIC RING to a SPECIFIC VOLCANO! Got it!?!?”
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
7.
7) Everyone very psyched. Boromir’s player Kevin tries to stir up trouble “because that’s what his character would do.” Fuckin’ Kevin.
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
8.
8) DM plans the MOST badass dungeon, ends up railroading the party a bit to get there. (“Uh, you can’t go over Caradhras… It’s, uh… It’s an evil mountain.” “What? What the hell is an Evil Mountain?” “Look, just GO TO MORIA, okay!?!?)
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
9.
9) Dungeon is awesome. Great encounters. Pippin rolls a Nat 1 on Stealth. Drums in the Deep. And right before the final Boss Battle… Steve books a gig in another city that’s gonna take him out of town indefinitely. Everyone SUPER BUMMED!
— Brennan Lee Mulligan (@BrennanLM) January 28, 2019
