Outside of Geekdom, was there ever a time when Dungeons & Dragons was the “cool” thing to do?

In short, yes, there was. For a bright few microseconds of our timeline, it was okay call yourself a Dungeon Master without someone calling the cops on you.

Much too quickly, geeks en masse found joyful escapism through D&D. Scribbling maps and character attributes on every scrap piece of paper they could grab. Solid D&D players took their imaginary avatars with them to school, while Dungeon Masters could be found hunched over in study hall meticulously detailing out twists and turns.

The penultimate mark of a Dungeon Master was his dice-bag. The more sided his (or if you were fortunate enough) or her cubes, the better the master. Strangely, none of this was sexual.

Every weekend there would be secret gatherings. D&D books, guides, manuals, and of course the dice bags, all spread out over a floor with lights properly dimmed and ample fuel (pizza, chips, and soda) to go around. Food and texts all gather together like some pagan ritual.

Of course, this was long before Geeks took over the known world. D&D now is all over the digital landscape, but books are still around.

There was an attempt to use D&D to advertise everything to interested geeks. D&D the cartoon was born. You get the token geek sorcerer, hotties, and of course the strong, chiseled leader…whom BTW: I loved to hate for some strange reason. There are other more annoying characters like the dwarfish girl-boy kid. Enough of a cast to make anyone happy.

Today’s classic cartoon, D&D:

Yes, there’s an updated movie that’s sooo cheesy, I won’t even plug it. The cartoon series is way better. At around 10 bucks for the entire 27 episodes, it’s a better bargain than any of the D&D flicks you find in the bargain bin.

Dig it.

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