Peter D. Adkison, former CEO of Wizards of the Coast, and the man who owns Gen Con, has started a new company. It’s related to RPGs.
The new company, Hostile Work Environment (website coming), is not putting the emphasis on making computer games. In fact, the first product will a movie.
Titled “The First Paladin”, Hostile Work Environment’s film will be set on the world of Chaldea and tells a story based on an actual Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
Adkison’s new company is all about creating online films to bring RPG adventures to life. The press release from the company notes;
”Through a variety of media formats, Hostile Work Environment will bring life to roleplaying games, not by publishing them, but by filming, narrating, and illustrating them online, engaging and interacting with audiences worldwide.”
The suggestion that they will be illustrating adventures leads to speculation that the new company will also be producing motion comics or even full animations.
Kim Voynar is the company’s first hire and will be producing The First Paladin. Voynar previously worked on White Knights by Joe Shapiro and a project called Bunker! Via her own Catawampus! Production.
Hostile Work Environment will be keeping the focus on RPGs.
“I couldn’t be more excited about Hostile Work Environment! Roleplaying games are my passion and through my new company, I’m creating ways for people to experience RPGs that will resonate with long-time players and new audiences alike,”
If this seems like an odd move then keep what happened to comic books in mind when it came to movies. Comic books are now a popular choice of movie for Hollywood because there’s always a wealth of material to draw from, the foundations of a franchise are in place and there’s already an engaged audience. We have struggled to make good RPG inspired movies in the past – but when big bucks filmmakers feel that they need to move on from comic books but still need something similar they might turn to the roleplaying world for help.
