D&D General Oddball mentions of D&D in popular culture.

[Puddles]

Hmm, I remember a scene from a movie with a group of "nerds" playing D&D with large dragon miniatures, and as they go into combat, they all start betting wads of cash on which will win the fight. I thought it was Independence Day but a quick search is coming up blank.

I wish 2 things:
1. I could remember what movie it was from
2. That my games of D&D were that wild

I found it! X Files or the Lone Gunmen spin-off

Check out these mad lads

Why aren’t we all playing D&D like this?!

 

[R_J_K75]

I think this was out of left field at the time. Unlike nowadays, D&D was mostly unheard of by the public at large when this came out.

Granted its always been a niche hobby but I think as it was newer back in the early 80s it was piquing peoples interest I'd say even people who didnt play were aware of it say more than people in the 90s.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Granted its always been a niche hobby but I think as it was newer back in the early 80s it was piquing peoples interest I'd say even people who didnt play were aware of it say more than people in the 90s.

You have to remember that "mass/pop culture" was a lot different back then than it is today.

There was no internet. There were no cell phones for regular people. Cable TV wasn't that widespread until the later part of the 80s. The first time I used an ATM was ... 1988 (before that, they were for the Big City).

It was a different time.

Given the culture of the time, yeah, D&D was huge, especially from the late 70s to the late 80s. Everyone knew about it. Everyone.

You could find D&D in every mall (Waldenbooks, B. Daltons, KB Toys). Sears had D&D. It had a magazine (Dragon) and a Saturday morning cartoon series (from '83-'85). If you didn't play it or have a "Red Box" somewhere, you likely had a friend or a cousin that did.

Kind of like trapper keepers- if you were in around during the 80s, you know all about 'em.

 

[phil62]

iZombie episode "twenty sided, die"

 

[theCourier]

Fate/Stay Night uses 9 point alignment for all of its Servants for some reason

 

[TarionzCousin]

Jim Butcher has the werewolves (and Harry Dresden) play D&D in an early Dresden book. Jim Butcher was/is a gamer.

 

[Blue Orange]

In the 1980s I used a backgammon double cube for D&D when I was DMing. It was my "God Dice."

If one of my smart-ass, edgy teenager friends got really unruly, the doubling-cube decided how many hit dice the lightning bolt that the gods tossed at them was.

You can actually roll a backgammon doubling cube on anydice.com; tell it 'output 2^(d6-1)'.

You can roll, say d4^d4, which has a minimum and mode of 1, a median value of 6, a mean value of 30, a standard deviation of 60, and a max of 256.

 

[Richards]

Giles, Xander, and some of the Buffy crew played D&D in one of the last episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to blow of some nervous energy before attacking the Hellmouth or something.

I also distinctly recall seeing D&D books and boxed sets in the background of Charles and Mambo's room in the old "Duckman" cartoon.

Johnathan

 

[Oofta]

Giles, Xander, and some of the Buffy crew played D&D in one of the last episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to blow of some nervous energy before attacking the Hellmouth or something.

I also distinctly recall seeing D&D books and boxed sets in the background of Charles and Mambo's room in the old "Duckman" cartoon.

Johnathan

Speaking of Buffy, there was also an episode where they were doing research and Xander thought he had found a reference before realizing he was actually looking at a Monster Manual.

 

[Older Beholder]

Another one from the archives, 'Freaks and Geeks'

More recently the Australian version of the reality show Beauty and the Geek had a challenge where the 'Beauties' had to co-DM a scene in a game of D&D.