This prompt again outs my shaky geek credentials. I know there are a lot of games that have tie-in novels, comics, movies, etc. There’s stuff for Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs, but for the most part, I’m usually focused on my take on that particular property, so I don’t really tend to buy those things. That said — and this particular game keeps coming up — I did rather enjoy the run of DIE the comic, which was developed and published at the same time as the creative team were working on the RPG. The run of the comic is over, so you should be able to get a hold of these at your local comic store or via Comicology or Amazon, or whatever. I suggest the LCS — they probably are still reeling from shutting the planet down.

The comic follows the adventures of a group of friends who got together to play a mysterious new roleplaying game in the ’90s as high school students and subsequently got transported to an alternate world based on RPGs, Tolkein’s experiences in World War I, HG Wells’ fascination with wargaming, the writings of the Bronte kids, and of course, Lovecraft. (As one does…) This world is a 20-sided die, with each facet containing a world (although there’s more to it), and over two years, they existed there before finally escaping — minus the GM who was caught in this other world. They come back to their hometown 15 years later and when their friend’s blood-covered (and magic) d20 is delivered to them, they find themselves trying to decide if they should destroy it. Too late, they are pulled back into DIE, where as their characters, they must figure out what’s going on. The comic deals with the emotional and other issues of the players as they deal with a world that feeds on their emotions and actions — good, bad, or indifferent.

It’s pretty good and worth grabbing the four volumes of graphic novels.

The other obvious one is Dungeons & Dragons; Honor Among Thieves which was a surprisingly good, and just flat out fun! movie. I took my daughter to see it and about half way through realized it was the most fun I’d had at a movie in a long time. And the fat dragon — well done.

Otherwise, without that, I would have to go with one of the properties that a roleplaying game was based on — a sort of inverse tie-in — and then there are so many: Babylon 5, Alien, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica (the good one), and so on… If we’re allowing for that then the hands-down winner for me is Blade Runner. I saw the original in the theater opening night as a teen and was simply blown away by the look and feel, the moral ambiguity, and Rutger Hauer’s amazing performance. I know some purists prefer the original release, but I felt the “director’s cut” improved the movie dramatically by removing the quasi-happy ending, the listless narration, and the addition of the dream sequence that throws an awful lot into question — some of which the newer sequel dodged.

Something a lot of people seem to miss. Gaff makes origami figured to suit the personality of the replicant they are dealing with — the stick figure man for Leon, the unicorn for Deckard (if he is, indeed, a replicant)…and the chicken for Captain Bryant. For me, that one bit begs the question: how many people were actually replicants and didn’t know it? Never went off the reservation and lived out their short lives not knowing?

The Denis Villaneue sequel is excellent, and I think from a standpoint of story and pacing, character and acting, and hitting the emotional and moral elements of the original, it far surpasses the original. (But I could be full of shit.) That said, the world created by Ridley Scott was so unique at the time that it inspired a host of manga, anime, and science fiction films’ look. Ghost in the Shell and Akira owe much to Blade Runner, as do other sci-fi animes (and curiously, to two smaller films — Streets of Fire and the very strange Trouble in Mind (which has one of my all-time favorite villains, Hilly Blue, a gangster played by Divine [out of drag]).

So — tell me what I’m missing out there? Is there a tie-in I absolutely need to see/read?