Most of our favorite fictional heroes are skilled at fighting the good fight, overcoming unbeatable odds and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.  Some of them, though, also know how to calculate their initiative bonuses…  Welcome to Ten Things!

Whooshman-Bicarbonate Films, in conjunction with ‘An Amateur Comics Historian’ and my 35th level Paladin/Assassin with mage powers and fire-breath, Presents:

TEN THINGS: TEN SUPERHEROES WHO PLAY D&D OR OTHER RPGS!

10) ROBIN

The smartest of the Robins, Tim Drake is also the most normal (and the most nerdy.)  Having grown up with both parents and a normal childhood (rather than life under the Big Top or as an Artful Dodger or repeatedly being cloned by your mother from your own genetic material like some other Robins) Tim also had more socialization than his peers in red and yellow.  Early in his career, before the curse of the Bat killed everything he loved and destroyed his whole life, Tim hung with his pals playing video games or that classic RPG, Warlocks and Warriors, created, presumably, by Barry Bybax.

9) UCHU SENTAI KYRANGER

Based on the constellations of the sky and featuring nearly a dozen varied alien heroes, Kyuranger is an unusual beast, even for Super Sentai.  During the course of their fight for right and justice, while attempting to save a distant galaxy from the evil Jark Matter galactic empire, our stellar-themed heroes were transported into a virtual RPG world, where they took on the roles of fighters, wizard and one pretty amazing-looking scorpion-man bard to save the galaxy and themselves…

8) THE BEAST

Not unexpectedly, the once-bespectacled nerd Henry P. McCoy can be something of a nebbish.  The Beast’s love of beat poetry, weird science and practical jokes are well-documented in X-Men and Avengers comics, but somewhat less well-known is his status as skilled Game Master for his friends and teammates.  As we shall see later in the list, Carol “Captain Marvel” Danvers has good reason to compliment the big blue nerd on his skills running a game board…

7) THE TEEN TITANS (GO!)

When his fellow Titans try to play their favorite Dungeons & Dragons analogue game (Wizards and Warriors?  Fighters And Fish-Men?  Knights and Knaves?), Robin gets very angry about his partners’ refusal to follow the rules.  Of course, once the team is actually transported into the world of the game, the Boy Wonder finds out about the real power of the imagination.

I’d say he learned a lesson, but the TTG just don’t DO that…  like, ever.

6) THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Space, as a well-known Guide will remind you, is big.  Really big, and sometimes those long, boring hours between stars need livening up with a little imaginary combat and such…  Thanks to Rocket Racoon, who is clearly not the most collaborative or cooperative Game Master, the Guardians can fill that time with character sheets and ability scores, rather than snark or yelling.  (This, by the way, is why Carol wanted The Beast to known what a great GM he was earlier in our list, ’cause Rocket is something of a tiny furry tyrant behind his GM screen.)

5) THE SECRET WARRIORS

It’s not exactly a role-playing game, but the game that might be ‘Risk’ in the final issue of ‘Secret Warriors’ is truly impressive in terms of what it reveals about the members of the team, providing important closure for the short-lived team.  From Karnak’s utter ruthlessness to Ms. Marvel’s romantic tension, it’s a great ending for a team that never really got started, plus Moon Girl wins because nobody wants to be mean to the genius kid.

4) QUANTUM & WOODY

Known as the World’s Worst Super-Team, Eric and Woody Henderson used to be just a mismatched pair of adoptive brothers growing up but taking very different paths.  Before all the powers, before Woody’s life of petty crime, even before Eric knew the exact path he wanted his life to take (I’m kidding, he’s always known), Eric and Woody took different levels of interest in ‘Caverns & Kobolds’.  I imagine Eric liked to play a wizard, while Woody enjoyed trying to build Blackie Lawless…

3) IRON MAN

Say what you will about Tony Stark, at least you know up front that you’re going to be dealing with a hyper-competitive rules lawyer.

And, frankly, he’s the player that GM Rocket Racoon deserves…

2) THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Even in the sewers of New York, sometimes you need to relax.  After a particularly rough couple of real-life adventures, Leonardo and Michelangelo decide it’s time to L.A.R.P. their favorite pseudo-D&D game, Mazes and Mutants.  Splinter rightfully questions how fighting evil with medieval weapons is any sort of escape from their regular lives doing just that, but things get side-tracked by an evil wizard who transports the foursome into a real version of their favorite game.

1) THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES

Even in the 30th Century, the appeal of magic-users and armored kuh-nigets smacking people with swords cannot be underestimated.  Weirdly, the primary players of this game are the expected Star Boy (who is kind of a nerdy fellow, known mostly for his undying devotion to Dream Girl) and less-predictable Sun Boy (who is a generally a good-time womanizer with a little streak of cruelty), proving that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.  RPG’s are for everyone!

At least, not without a really good Perception check bonus…

Thanks to Faithful Spoilerite Dan (@berenaltorin) for this week’s topic.  Feel free to follow along @MightyKingCobra for more Ten Things madness on Twitter or check out the full archive here!  As with any set of like items, these aren’t meant to be hard and fast or absolutely complete, especially since “Caverns & Carrion Crawlers” is right there for the taking.  Either way, the comments section is Below for just such an emergency, but, as always: Please, no wagering!

---

Dear Spoilerite,

At Major Spoilers, we strive to create original content that you find interesting and entertaining. Producing, writing, recording, editing, and researching requires significant resources. We pay writers, podcast hosts, and other staff members who work tirelessly to provide you with insights into the comic book, gaming, and pop culture industries. Help us keep MajorSpoilers.com strong. Become a Patron (and our superhero) today.