I and some friends have a project of trying to watch all movies, tv episodes and other stuff with moving pictures related to roleplaying games ever made. We’re pretty far along on this goal. I’ll write here about old and new things we’ve found and watched.
Gravity Falls is an American cartoon series, sort of like Twin Peaks for kids. Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons, episode 13 of season two, features roleplaying and larp. It’s a dismal exercise in hoary stereotyping and the self-hatred typical of a lot of American geek media.
There’s a joke based on the “Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!” video. The game becomes real, as it always does. Roleplaying games are complicated and ridiculous, but normal folks should humor roleplayers so as not to be assholes. The end credits feature an extra scene of larper bashing, as if the makers of this episode suddenly thought: “Wait! There’s not enough stupid cliche here! We need more.”
A summary goes something like this: A kid receives a game analogous to D&D. He plays it with an older scientist dude. The game becomes real. Non-geeks have to compete in the game, and naturally win. Everyone watches a non-geeky tv show in a picture of family harmony. PS: Larpers are losers.