Making A Fantasy version of a Die-Hard scenario

I was thinking we seen so many settings with the Die-Hard formula. However, I don't think many fantasy settings have had Die-Hard situations.

Die-Hard situations are somewhat unique, in that they do not happen all that often and are somewhat unlikely in their entirety, no, but the potential for situations parallel to it is findable in a lot of fantasy settings.

Ultimately, what you need for such a situation to happen are just a few things:

1. A hero, one who is resilient, versatile, and someone who at the moment counts as a civilian.

2. The villains, a somewhat organised group with varied and potentially superior resources but only locally, who manage to take some place over completely, forcing the hero to basically besiege them from within.

3. Creativity, of your own, for writing.

Do read a book called “Nothing Lasts Forever”, it's what the first movie is based on and a lot of stuff in it can easily be translated to a generic fantasy world.

Edited by Kazeto on Dec 27th 2018 at 3:00:54 PM

It actually could happen. Like in a castle setting or fortress, where the main character could be a fighter that has something that could fight against magical foes. Like the heroes could have a fighting style that could nullify the bad guy's magical powers, I mean since this is a fantasy setting I could see the bad guys being a group of magical users or something.

On the other hand, I could make into a Urban Fantasy world where the protagonist is a vampire/ghost hunter and the bad guys are evil vampires/ghosts.

Edited by firewriter on Dec 27th 2018 at 8:41:18 AM

One scenario that comes to mind, inspired by the above, is this:

Our hero is a low-born personal guard to a noble who is visiting another noble's castle. Perhaps we'll follow Die Hard particularly closely, and have him be trepidatious, knowing that this ex-wife is a retainer to the noble of the castle.

During the visit, a group of well-armed, highly-trained warriors take control of the castle. Armed with wands, they quickly kill off the castle guards and herd the nobles and their retinues into the great hall. They then set about whatever their nefarious plan is—perhaps they're raiding the castle coffers, or searching for something said to be buried beneath it.

Either way, our hero happens to be away from the group at the time and so, for a moment, goes unnoticed. He's severely outmatched, both in numbers and in weapons (perhaps he carries a simple spear, or a small hand-crossbow).

But he's cunning, and he does have one particular advantage: he was born to servants in a castle, and so knows that all such fortresses are riddled with hidden doors and passages. Some of these are for the use of the nobles, to hide their movements; some are for the servants, so that they can work without cluttering the general spaces of the nobles. Either way, our hero may not know the secrets of this particular castle, but he knows that they exist, and he knows what to look for. And using these passages and rooms, he can move outside of the villains' sight, appearing from nowhere and disappearing again.

I can even see the potential for a nicely-tense scene: Our hero is trying to escape nearby foes, frantically looking for a secret door that he knows must be somewhere nearby—but where?

Caltrops? Who gives a shit about caltrops?

Now this is really something that would be interesting as a premise, and probably would spice up the Die Hard scenario. Using the knowledge of trap doors would be good for the hero. I do think that maybe since they are wizards/warlocks/sorcerers they would be out to find some powerful spell or something that could help them be an unstoppable force. Also maybe instead of an ex-wife, the protagonist's sibling could be among the hostages.

There is a variant of the Die Hard formula often found in sci-fi, involving monsters taking over a facility. Great examples include Doom and Half-Life. You could easily translate this to fantasy: A wizard accidentally creates a portal to hell inside their wizard tower. Oops!

Alternatively, one can go for a more literal translation and just have medieval terrorists. The term is somewhat new (going back to the 1700's or so) but the concept is not.

Here's an idea: An evil wizard and his minions take over a palace and kidnap the queen. Our hero is the queen's bodyguard who manages to survive and now has to go and save her from the evil wizard while doing die-hard esque shenanigans in the palace.

It would be interesting if it was gender flipped as well. A female bodyguard has to save her king from being slaughtered from the wizard. Given this is still the medieval period, she would be one of the few female warriors. So, I could see herself passing herself as just a normal woman when sneaking around then going back to her warrior persona when combating enemies.

If you want a setting where women are expected to know how to fight, why not go with a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of the Mongols or other Eurasian steppe nomads? Your characters are travelling through the wilderness in a merchant caravan, a traitor/bandit gang/dark sorcerer/man-eating monster takes everyone hostage for a ritual or something, and it's up to your protagonist to ride in, ice the baddies and save the day.

(Okay, it's more Last of the Mohicans than Die Hard, but...)

I could also go for an African setting, because some African cultures did have some warrior women.

If I wanted to do Die Hard as a Fantasy, I would definitely do Die Hard in a Castle, using the following scenario (note: I have used names from Die Hard to make it clear which characters line up with their Die Hard counterparts, but would not actually use these names because that'd be silly):

The King of Nakatomi has invited several of his lords to his court for a celebratory feast. One of his lords, Lord Hans Gruber, is largely unknown to the court — he has only recently become the lord of his lands, having inherited them from his late brother almost immediately after returning from a long campaign against the enemies of the Nakatomians, the Germans.

Unbeknowest to all, Gruber was captured by the enemy and turned against the kingdom. He murdered his brother to gain control of their lands, and now he intends to loot the king's vault — this will make it impossible for the Nagamanians to continue to press the war against the Germans.

On the first night of the celebration, there is the traditional Knight's Feast, where all of the warriors who serve all of the various lords are treated to a great feast. Gruber's men poison the wine, murdering all the knights. They then easily overpower the few remaining sober guards and take the King, the lords and their non-combatant retainers hostage and seal the castle. Gruber has hired a wizard, Theo, to break through the magical wards that protect the castle's vaults, and it will take at least a day for him to bring them all down.

What Gruber doesn't know is that a retainer of one of the lesser lords, Sir John McClane, was exhausted by the long ride to the castle and decided to forgo the Feast. Instead he snuck off and found a place to lie down and take a much needed nap. He's woken when one of the castle's chefs, Argyle, accidentally stumbles across him while looking for a hiding place to escape Gruber's men. Argyle knows that there is an entrance into the secret passages that riddle the castle in the storeroom McClane chose to nap in.

Gruber's men are close on Argyle's heels, and he and McClane barely manage to escape into the secret passages. McClane is forced to leave his armor, weapons and even his boots behind. There is a passage the leads to the outside, and McClane sends Argyle to fetch more knights from the nearby garrison, while he does what he can to stop Gruber from inside the castle.

Edited by wolfofthewest on Jan 8th 2019 at 11:56:32 AM

Now this is an awesome premise to make in an adult animated movie.