They’re making a D&D movie! Well, not really.

Gathering of Heroes lifts all the tropes of D&D: healing spells, characters who represent different classes, and even drow—or as they are calling them “deep elves.” It’s a pretty obvious homage to D&D and maybe to World of Warcraft (but since WoW rips off so many tropes of D&D, it’s hard to tell).

While it’s no Hollywood production, it looks like the folks who are making it are pouring a lot of passion and energy into the work. And more power to them!

It’s not easy to get a big-budget fantasy movie made. You’d think you could just walk into a studio and say, “Let’s make a D&D movie,” or “Let’s make a Drizzt movie.” D&D has huge name recognition, and R.A. Salvatore is a perennial best seller. What’s the problem?

Well, the problem is that there have been D&D movies that didn’t do all that well, and there are plenty of big-budget fantasy flops to look back on (including the recent Conan film).

However, I take heart in the fact that most of the highest grossing films of the last decade (or ever) have been fantasy movies: Harry Potter, Pirates of the Carribean, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland. And many more are in the works at one stage or another. After all, it’s not that it’s so hard to make a good fantasy film, or that people don’t have an appetite for it; it’s that it’s an extraordinary challenge to make any film that millions of people want to watch.

The folks making Gathering of Heroes will get my money when they do a DVD release (or even a blu ray). Success or failure, kudos to them for taking up the challenge.