List of Dungeons & Dragons popular culture references

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This article contains an incomplete list of references to the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, in pop culture.

Contents 1 Film and Television 2 Books 3 Music 4 Comic Strips 5 Webcomics 6 Miscellaneous 7 References

[edit] Film and Television

• That 70's Show: Dungeons & Dragons is mentioned in episode "Radio Daze" (3.14 aired 6 February 2001). Eric (Topher Grace) and Donna (Laura Prepon) turn down an offer to play a game with "Jerry Thunder" (Curtis Armstrong), her colleague at an FM rock station who refers to Donna as "Hot Donna" to Eric's annoyance. Donna is upset at the end of the episode that she didn't get to meet Alice Cooper. Ironically, the real Alice Cooper is shown playing Dungeons & Dragons with Jerry Thunder and station manager Max (Howard Hesseman) during the closing credits.
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: In a scene near the beginning of the film, Elliot's older brother and his friends are shown playing Dungeons & Dragons in the kitchen. The game is not mentioned by name, reportedly because TSR refused to allow mention of the trademark when the movie was made. However, one brother accuses the other to have "Charisma zero" during the movie. However, in the novelization of the movie E.T., Dungeons & Dragons is featured much more extensively, being mentioned by name and also where Elliot introduces a new D&D character by the name of E.T.
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors: One of the primary characters is a wheelchair-bound D&D geek who becomes "the Wizard Master" in order to combat Freddy Krueger. He attempts to banish Freddy "in the name of Lowrek, Prince of Elves" and is promptly stabbed in the gut for his trouble, as Freddy points out that he "doesn't believe in fairy tales". This is parodied in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror VI" where Martin Prince proclaims 'I am the wondrous wizard of Latin! I am a dervish of declension and a conjurer of conjugation, with a million hit points and maximum charisma.' This is in itself a Dungeons & Dragons reference.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The main characters play a game of Dungeons & Dragons in the series finale, with Giles remarking somewhat ironically that his character has the magical ability of a doily upon being confronted by a Trogdor the Burninator.
• SLC Punk: In the film, the two main characters are preparing to play Dungeons & Dragons in a flashback at the end of the film.
• Jesse: In an episode of Christina Applegate's television series, Applegate's character Jesse thinks she has met the perfect guy... until he introduces her to his Dungeons & Dragons group.
• Airheads: One of the characters in this movie mentions Dungeons & Dragons when addressing the crowd at the end of the film. A biker dude responds, "Hey, I played D & D too!"
• Saturday Night Live: In a sketch entitled "Geek, Dweeb, or Spaz" high school kids had to guess how geeky their classmates were. Guest-host Emilio Estevez played a character who seemed too impossibly cool to be ruled a geek at all... until the game show host revealed he had been the treasurer of the Dungeons & Dragons club at his old high school.
• Sons of Butcher (TV show): In a single episode, Doug joins a group of Dungeons & Dragons players.
• The X-Files: In the episode "The Usual Suspects", the character Langley of the The Lone Gunmen plays Dungeons & Dragons in a 1989 flashback, which includes him saying the line, "Papa needs a new sword of wounding!" In the episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", an ubergeek declares that he wasn't afraid of intimidating Men in Black because, "Hey... I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage."
• Dexter's Laboratory: In an episode titled "D&DD" (Season Two, Episode Three), the characters of this cartoon series play D&D (Monsters and Mazes) and Dexter claims to have a character named Gygax. They are later interrupted by Dexter's sister Dee-Dee, who begs for, and wins the position of Game Master. Dexter is bumped down into the role of a halfling
• Drawn Together: In the first episode, Spanky Ham refers to Xandir (a video game warrior) derisively as Dungeons and Douchebags. Xandir's nemesis Lord Slashstab is based on Venger from the animated Dungeons & Dragons TV series.
• Freaks & Geeks:The 'geek' characters are shown to be Dungeons & Dragons players throughout the series, and during the final episode they are joined by Daniel Desario, one of the 'freaks.'
• Futurama: This animated series, created by Matt Groening, features many Dungeons & Dragons references. Producer David X. Cohen is an admitted D & D player. In the episode "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" there's a beholder as a guard in the Central Bureaucracy. In "Mothers Day", an ancient map is shown with "Here be Dragons" and "Cloakwood Forest" (the latter being a location from the Forgotten Realms campaign setting) written on it. The episode "I Second that Emotion" features a rust monster at a veterinarians office, and in "Anthology of Interest, Part 1", Gary Gygax guest stars along side Al Gore, who describes himself as a "10th Level Vice President". In the episode, Gary Gygax also rolls dice to make decisions. ("It's a... <rolls dice> ...pleasure to meet you!") Gary also offers his +1 mace to Fry. At the end of that episode, when the characters get sucked into an empty void, Gary Gygax asks if anyone wants to play Dungeons and Dragons. (which they do)
• The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy: In The Crawling Niceness, the Eye of Vecna is one of the items Billy tosses out of Grim's trunk. In Prank Call of Cthulu, the same trunk contains a Scroll of Magic Missile.
• You Can't Do That on Television - In one sketch in the episode on addictions, Kevin and the dungoneer in are playing "Dungeons and Dragons." Kevin rolls a 6 and lands on a trap door. When asked what is behind the trap door, Keven replies "I don't know" and gets slimed. The dungeoneer replies, "Green slime." Then in the next sketch, Christine says, "I could get into playing Dungeons and Dragons, only (in 1982) they don't have a video version yet."
• Robot Chicken - In one sketch, a group of Dungeons & Dragons icons including an archtypical dwarf, orc, and skeleton are seen playing an inverse version of D&D, as the elf Dungeon Master explains "Your boss at the accounting firm tells you to coallate the data, but Excel hasn't backed up the file yet!" to which the orc frantically rolls two d20s and yells, "Saving throw! Then I do a saving throw!" This sketch may be based on a cartoon from the first edition Dungeon Master's Guide which featured warriors and wizards playing an RPG called "Papers and Paychecks".
• Wet Hot American Summer - At one point in the movie, Henry (David Hyde Pierce's character) needs a random number generator to save the camp, and one of the kids, a D&D geek, says, "No dungeon master worth his weight in geldings goes anywhere without his twenty-sided die!" holding up the item in question.
• The Simpsons - In the episode "Homer Goes to College", Homer befriends three nerds who attend Springfield University. When telling the family about his university experiences, he says that they played Dungeons & Dragons for four hours, before he was "slain by an elf" (which he says with a touch of shame). In "Lost Our Lisa", she tries to sit on the bus next to the comic book guy, who is wearing a viking helmet and a t-shirt that says "Dungeon Master". In "Treehouse of Horror VI" Martin Prince dreams of being a Wizard of sorts, and describes himself as having 'A million hit points and maximum Charisma'.
• King Of The Hill - In an episode Connie is thought to be suicidal after passing a note to Bobby in class. A meeting is held in Principal Moss's office where he says "I don't want your kids planning any of that I jump you jump Dungeons & Dragons crap."
• Reno 911! - In several episodes of Reno 911! are parodies of how D&D players can take the game too seriously inflicting "real life" injuries to players. In one episode the Dungeon Master (played by Patton Oswalt) shoots a player in the neck with an arrow, then when the police come he claims it was a magic missile shot from a trap when the player opened a magical chest. He then explains to one of the deputies that he's "immune to keen edged weapons, wizard's prismatic spray" and before he finishes, he gets sprayed in the face with mace by the deputy. In another episode, the deputies are seen gathering signatures for a petition, and when they approach the D&D nerds, they reply "Can we sign our character names?"
• Spongebob Squarepants - An episode was titled Dunces and Dragons, in which Spongebob and Patrick attend a medieval festival and accidentally get warped back to the Middle Ages.
• Family Guy - When Lois and Peter try to spice up their sex life with role playing in the episode entitled "Sibling Rivalry", Peter describes himself as a "Paladin with an 18 Charisma and the helm of disintegration," to which Lois replies, "Wait, a Paladin can't use the helm of disintegration." Peter, not knowing this, is disappointed, but quickly changes gears: "...then I'm a black guy."
• The Journey Home an EWTN program- This program featured a former minister who strongly condemned the playing of D&D, without calling it a sin. Catholicism, as a whole, however, is fairly neutral about the game.
• The last episode of Strangers with Candy includes many references to Dungeons and Dragons. It is played by Jerri's friends, who cosplay as their characters. These scenes were written by Paul Dinello, who knew little about the game, much to the dismay of Stephen Colbert.
• Steve Smith was seen playing Dungeons and Dragons in American Dad!
• In one episode of Grey's Anatomy, Dr. George O'Malley tells a teenage patient who is having problems in high school that he (O'Malley) was the president of his Dungeons & Dragons club in high school.
• Corner Gas In a recent episode, Brent and his father go every year for a father/son camping trip but instead of camping they go into the city where Oscar hangs out with bums at the library and Brent plays D&D in sombody's basement. This year Davis begs his way in and Brent and Oscar actually have to go camping. eventially they get too anoyed with each other and end up going into the city where Davis plays D&D with Brent, Oscar even shows up with one of his street friends.

[edit] Books

• Mazes and Monsters: A poorly-written and ill-researched novel by Rona Jaffe inspired by the allegations accusing the game of encouraging alienation and suicide. The novel was later adapted into a made-for-television movie starring Tom Hanks.
• Missing Abby, a book by Lee Weatherly, contains many references to D&D.One of the main characters, Abby, was an ardent D&D fan.
• The Guardians of the Flame series of novels by Joel Rosenberg is based on a group of players of a D&D-like game who are sent into the game world in their characters' bodies and marooned there.
• Rock and pop-culture writer Chuck Klosterman makes semi- frequent references to 'hit-points' and other D&D terms in his essays.

[edit] Music

• A Weezer song, "In the Garage", mentions the 12 sided die and Dungeon Master's Guide.
• Rock group Marcy Playground has a song called "Cloak of Elvenkind", which refers to a magic item described in the game.
• A Tribe Called Quest song, "Scenario" features Busta Rhymes delivering the line:, "Rarr Rarr like a dungeon dragon".
• Singer/Comedian Steven Lynch has a song called "D & D" which mentions Dungeons & Dragons by name and insinuates that Dungeons & Dragons players are virgins for life.
• Thrash Metal band Megadeth wrote a song loosely based on Dungeons & Dragons called "5 Magics"
• Canadian punk band Flashlight Brown wrote a song directly influenced by Dungeons & Dragons called "Ready to Roll," describing a game and those playing it.
• Canadian musician Owen Pallett (who records under the moniker Final Fantasy), released his second album He Poos Clouds in May 2006 - eight of the ten songs are said to represent the schools of magic in D&D.
• A Necro song, "Do the Charles Manson", mentions "Dungeons & Dragons adventures", as the game is believed by some to have inspired many serial killers since its creation.
• Rock band Clutch recorded a b-side to their Elephant Riders album about the band's Advanced Dungeons and Dragons games called "24 Earth Years," the lyrics to which can be found at their website.
• Rock band Panic! At The Disco mentioned being big D&D fans in the question session of their performance for Live 105 in December of 2006.
• Rock band My Chemical Romance has a short prelude that begins their video "I'm Not Okay", when the guitarist says, "You like D&D, Harry Houdini, and croquet. You can't swim, can't dance, and you don't know karate. Face it. You're never going to make it."
• In the "Weird Al" Yankovic song "White & Nerdy", parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'", Al says, "Got skills, I'm a champion at D&D" The video shows him rolling a twenty-sided die and an eight-sided die in the street with a group of nerds.
• In the song "It's Great to be a Nerd" by the Canadian humor band The Arrogant Worms, one line is, "We hate watching sports cause were reading Carl Sagan, but we'd watch the Olympics if they played Dungeons and Dragons."
• The song "Geek," by comedic rapper mc chris, includes the lines "If this was D&D, you’d see me jump into a portal," and "the dragon died from a heart attack/ you may advance and yo, I upped your armor class."
• the song "Dungeon Master" by the artist Jumpsteady details the lives of the players of DnD
• Northern Californian thrash-funk band Nuclear Rabbit references the game on the album entitled Intestinal Fortitude in the song 5th Grade Alchemy
• Michigan rock band Hope Diamond's album Dark Augury contains a song entitled We'll Play D&D (and YOU Can Go to Hell!), which takes a strong stance against the anti-D&D crowd.
• The Morgues song "It's in Your Eyes" is a reference to a beholder.

[edit] Comic Strips

• FoxTrot - Many episodes of this comic strip feature Jason Fox playing D&D, often using his sister Paige as a monster or enemy. The author of the strip has stated he has played D&D in the past, and the strips show a genuine knowledge of the game.
• Retarded Animal Babies has featured games of D&D.
• Get Fuzzy - The human character, Rob, often references D&D. Rob also often makes remarks about his halfling character and, in one strip, ordered a "guild" shirt that had "Halflings are whole fun!" printed on it.link Rob also refers to playing Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, rather obssessively, during a particular run of successive strips.

[edit] Webcomics

Many webcomics often employ humor related to Dungeons & Dragons.

• Some webcomics are set in D&D gameworlds. One of the most prominent is Order of the Stick, a humorous comic written by a game designer who contributes content to Wizards of the Coast. Some comics take a non-traditional view of D&D; an example of these is Goblins, a bleak and serious comic told from the point of view of goblins who are sick of being slaughtered by adventurers and decide to do something about it.

• Some webcomics feature D&D players as characters. Something Positive features gamers as main characters, uses extreme stereotypes of D&D players and sometimes contains statistics for outland D&D creatures (such as the redneck tree [1] and infernal tax collector [2]). Penny Arcade sometimes humorously contrasts its protagonist Tycho's obession with D&D with the digital-gaming mania around him.

• In the webcomic PVP, the characters often gather together to play a nostalgic game of D&D. The most common recurring elements are Brent's elven magic user named Silverleaf and Cole's presence as the game master complete with a star spangled wizard's hat.

• Get Your War On - one character asked another "why does Bush sound like he's addressing a fucking Dungeons & Dragons convention?" [3]

[edit] Miscellaneous

• American actor Vin Diesel stated a number of times that he plays D&D and wrote the foreword to the book 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. While discussing his hobby on the Late Night with Conan O' Brien, he did the voice of his half-orc character.
• The comic book Knights of the Dinner Table concerns players of a D&D parody called Hackmaster; ironically, its publisher (Kenzer & Company) later became a publisher of licensed D&D product
• The "Dungeons and Dragons" sketch by the Dead Alewives Society from a Doctor Demento album includes the infamous "I attack the darkness" joke, as well as references to Mountain Dew and other classic lines. Several fan-made videos have been made using the audio of this piece. This has also been included as a secret FMV at the end of the video game "summoner".
• Stephen Colbert has mentioned being a D&D player.^[1]
• D&D references (some of them displaying a considerable knowledge of the game) frequently appear in The Onion. Example: Bill Gates Grants Self 18 Dexterity, 20 Charisma
• The videogame Bully by Rockstar features a clique of "nerds" who play "Grottoes and Gremlins" an obvious reference to D&D. During the game, they can be heard stating references to situations arising in D&D.
• The online flash cartoon Homestar Runner has a D&D reference in one of the episodes of Teen Girl Squad. So-And-So gets killed by a 20-sided die (although the narration claims it is a 12-sided die). In a later episode, a character named D & D Greg mentions Beholders.
• YouTube.com features numerous D&D related videos; many are satirical in nature, and a number reference either explicitly or obliquely the aforementioned Dead Alewives sketch.
• Alltell's popular fictional spokesperson "Chad" used the phrase "What level Dungeon Master are you?" during a television commercial. It was implied that Chad was trying to reach out to his socially challenged competitors.

[edit] References

1. ^ Interview with Stephen Colbert