# Comic book characters who...play tabletop RPGs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547 "2015-07-30T01:46:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/1 "2015-07-30T01:46:28Z")
Okay, odd question that occurred to me, but…are there any comic book characters who play, or have occasionally been shown playing, tabletop RPGs? Like Dungeons and Dragons, and the like? (_Manga_ doesn’t count, for the record.) I know, it’s not exactly the kind of pastime that Batman or Captain America would likely spend their time on, much less to enough extent that you’d devote valulable page space to showing; but, comics as a medium have a long history, and it doesn’t seem impossible that over the last 40 years, _some_ character of the right age and demographic might get a panel or two showing them playing D&D as a bit of backstory, or even as a gag. I could see Spider-Man doing that, for instance. Like I said, an odd, silly question. But I’m honestly curious, and I could use a chuckle. So…any reports? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/2 "2015-07-30T03:28:57Z")
Harry Dresden has played Dungeons and Dragons and has appeared in a couple of graphic novels. Not sure he’s done it at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/3 "2015-07-30T04:32:18Z")
total cheat answer: Wormy! [![](https://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/491301280_c4106d190a_o.jpg) ](https://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/491301280_c4106d190a_o.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/4 "2015-07-30T05:48:04Z")
Do you mean super heroes shown playing D&D? If you mean any comic book character, there is a whole book [Knights of the Dinner Table](http://www.kenzerco.com/index.php?cPath=22_23) devoted to following a couple of different groups of characters who play D&D (sorry Hackmaster, the non IP-violating roleplaying game) and the strips are primarily focused on their actions and interactions around the gaming table. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/5 "2015-07-30T06:44:31Z")
Doesn’t count at all, but there’s a theory that the movie\* Guardians of the Galaxy\* was actually the visualization of an RPG played by the Avengers. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/6 "2015-07-30T08:14:53Z")
Mia ‘Maps’ Mizoguchi of Gotham Academy is a huge roleplay geek. It’s how she got her nickname. (Though she also likes exploring in the real world.) The Legion of Superheroes played D&D during the Levitz era. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/7 "2015-07-30T13:33:48Z")
Came in to mention the Legion, but got beaten to the punch! ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/8 "2015-07-30T13:40:33Z")
Off topic, but Spider-Man and Captain America play WoW. Tabletop RPGS? I wouldn’t be surprised if Jimmy Olson had mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/9 "2015-07-30T13:47:18Z")
nm… ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/10 "2015-07-30T13:56:45Z")
I’m like 90% sure at some point The Runaways are shown playing an RPG. They for sure have shown at least one character playing an MMORPGs. There’s a Star Trek Enterprise Novel where some of the crew plays an RPG. It was one of the first and was written before the show aired very long so the characters were not really well understood so it was pretty clear the author was just padding the book. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/11 "2015-07-30T15:04:42Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > There’s a Star Trek Enterprise Novel where some of the crew plays an RPG. One could argue that every holodeck episode of Star Trek is an RPG. (or LARP, to be precise). Buffy the Vampire Slayer has a comic, and an episode of the show had some of the characters playing an RPG. Also, in the 1st Maguire Spiderman, Peter Parker has a Magic: The Gathering poster on his wall: [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](http://i.imgur.com/woOuk40.jpg) (not an RPG, but in the ballpark. I could totally see young Peter Parker playing D&D) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/12 "2015-07-30T15:42:35Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > Also, in the 1st Maguire Spiderman, Peter Parker has a Magic: The Gathering poster on his wall: [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](http://i.imgur.com/woOuk40.jpg) (not an RPG, but in the ballpark. I could totally see young Peter Parker playing D&D) If we’re going to go there, in Love & Key, Jamal (one of Kinsey’s friends) is shown playing what appears to be Magic (or possibly Yu-Gi-Oh…at the level of detail, it could be either of those two, but given the characters’ ages, I assume Magic is more likely). ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/13 "2015-07-30T15:49:46Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > If we’re going to go there, in Love & Key Gah. Too late to edit…Locke & Key. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/14 "2015-07-30T15:54:18Z")
In the mid-80’s Legion of Super-Heroes, a number of the heroes were shown to be playing a futuristic version (holograms and the like) of what’s clearly D&D. I know Sun Boy and Star Boy were into it, I don’t recall off-hand who else was. Chameleon Boy and Invisible Kid, maybe. Brainiac 5 was aware of the game, but didn’t seem to be a hard-core gamer. But I recall one issue in which he was working on a time-travel problem, left his lab, went into the rec room and interrupted a game in progress to try a move, which he said was occupying his mind a bit, so he thought he could concentrate better on the time-travel problem if he just played it out to see how it would work and he’d stop thinking about it…and then we just went right back to the lab. D’oh - Didn’t see that Kamino Neko already mentioned this ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/15 "2015-07-30T16:41:49Z")
> [@Daddypants](#): > > Off topic, but Spider-Man and Captain America play WoW. Kemala Khan, too, although I think they call it something different in the comics. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/16 "2015-07-30T17:29:06Z")
In one of the Borderlands 2 expansions, the PCs get together to play a tabletop game (Bunkers & Badasses) and you then get to play through the module as the character that the PC is playing… there were Borderlands comics, so this kind of counts. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/17 "2015-07-30T17:53:04Z")
I’m pretty sure that somewhere in the 90’s run of New Warriors there were scenes of them playing a tabletop board game/RPG in the Crahspad. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/18 "2015-07-30T17:58:17Z")
Davan is currently running a game in Something Positive. The story arc [[URL=“http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp07022015.shtml”]begins here.](http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp07032015.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/19 "2015-07-30T21:18:32Z")
[There was a surreal comic limited series called “I Kill Giants.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Kill_Giants) The protagonist was a D&D buff, who seemed to be taking it too seriously. After that, the series got weird… Giants are real, and she really does kill them. (Sketchy art, iffy writing, I’m afraid I can’t really recommend it. One of those “nice try” comic books.) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547/20 "2015-08-02T07:31:47Z")
DC had a series called _The Warlord_ (basically a sword-and-sorcery mishmash of Pellucidar, a bit of John Carter, hollow-Earth stories, etc.) and in its issue #35 (July 1980) the main character, Travis Morgan, got bounced around from nutty scene to nutty scene at the whim of a couple of dice-rolling pseudogods (the artist and editor of the series) who were essentially playing D&D with his life. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-characters-who-play-tabletop-rpgs/726547.md?page=2)