Dungeons & Dragons in popular culture

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As the popularity of Dungeons & Dragons grew throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, the game was referenced more and more in popular culture. Numerous games, films and cultural references based on D&D or D&D-like fantasies, characters or adventures have been ubiquitous since the end of the 1970s.

Typically, though by no means exclusively, D&D players are portrayed derogatively as the epitome of geekdom. References to the game are used as shorthand to establish characterization or provide the punchline of a joke.

Many players, miffed with this stereotype, embrace the fact that comedian Stephen Colbert, musician Moby, and actors Vin Diesel, Matthew Lillard, Mike Myers, Patton Oswalt, Wil Wheaton and Robin Williams have made their D&D hobbies public.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]. Vin Diesel, Mike Myers and Robin Williams participated in the 2006 Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Game Day.^[7]

1 Comics
2 Movies and television
3 Music
4 References

[edit] Comics

8-Bit Theater webcomic. The character Red Mage views the world as a version of Dungeons and Dragons and plays by the rules as a munchkin.
Penny Arcade, the main character Tycho plays.
Donald Duck Pocket (comic in Holland), a pocket called, "De zwarte Bol(the black orb) is about the characters playing D&D
FoxTrot, Jason and Marcus are occasionally seen playing.
Questionable Content, webcomic. Appearing in Comic #963 "Raven Levels Up" and others.
Schlock Mercenary webcomic. Referenced in the comic of 11 November 2007 [1]
Order of the Stick webcomic. Follows an adventuring party in a Dungeons and Dragons universe.
D&D co-creator Gary Gygax was commemorated in webcomics series xkcd's comic #393 "Ultimate Game".
Goblins, a webcomic which follows a party of Goblin adventurers.
User Friendly, the main characters are discussing the improvements of the 4th edition

[edit] Movies and television

Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
The final episode of Freaks & Geeks entitled "Discos and Dragons", in which the Geeks invite bad-boy Daniel Desario to play the game with them. He accepts after seeing Harris reading the Monster Manual during school.
SLC Punk!
A recent episode of The Sarah Silverman Program.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Smashed and Chosen episodes).
The Futurama episode Anthology of Interest I in which Gary Gygax, one of the creators of D&D, actually starred and other scattered references.^[8]

In the X-Files episode Jose Chung's From Outer Space, abductee Blaine Faulkner says that he "didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons & Dragons without learning a little something about courage".
SpongeBob Squarepants, A season 4 episode is titled "Dunces and Dragons" which includes SpongeBob, Patrick, and medieval versions of other characters.
Craig from Malcolm in the Middle claims to have a level 14 elven cleric.
Dexter and his friends in Dexter's Laboratory play a game similar to Dungeons & Dragons in episode "DD & D".
In the Drawn Together episode "Hot Tub", during a game of pool, Spanky calls Xandir "Dungeons and Douchebags"

[edit] Music

"Weird Al" Yankovic's song "White & Nerdy".
Musician/comedian Stephen Lynch's song called "D&D", which mocks the typical stereotype of a Dungeons & Dragons player—a metalhead that smokes marijuana, drinks Mountain Dew, lives in his mother's basement, and has little to no interaction with females. He has performed the song live on several radio programs including The Opie and Anthony Show and The Preston & Steve Show.
The Weezer song, In the Garage, starts with the lyrics, "I've got a Dungeon Master's Guide/I've got a twelve-sided die," both references to Dungeons & Dragons.
Flashlight Brown's song "Ready to Roll."
Marcy Playground's song "A Cloak of Elvenkind" from their self titled debut album.
Nerdcore rapper MC Chris has a CD called "Dungeon Master of Ceremonies," which contain numerous references to the game, including a sketch where a heckler threatens to make MC "12-sided die."
Seminal stoner rock band Kyuss was formed in 1989 under the name "Sons of Kyuss", in reference to the deity Kyuss_(Greyhawk)^[9]