History Main / RPGEpisode

* In episode 2 of the ''Anime/KujibikiUnbalance'' OAV, one of the contests is a dungeon crawl, complete with UsefulNotes/RolePlayingGameTerms. In a ShoutOut to ''VideoGame/NetHack'', one of the teams is accompanied by a cat, who at one point eats a dead enemy.

* ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': Season 6 Episode 3, "Monsters & Mana", features the team bonding over an Altean equivalent of ''D&D'', complete with character sheet tablets, a holographic board, and 20 sided dice with Altean numbers. While the majority of the episode is shown as DeepImmersionGaming, there are occasional breaks to the real world, as well as an ArtShift to 16 bit sprites, and at one point Allura clicking on a MOBA-esque cooldown timer.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "Loft in Bedslation", Bob must assist a new Dungeon Master. While Bob, Gene, and Tina don’t connect with the tabletop game, Bob helps a customer learn a lesson along the way.

* The ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' episode entitled "But I Have A Receipt" depicts the show's characters playing a RPG tableside as well as being mystically transported into the RPG game world for a final confrontation with the [[KillerGameMaster game store owner who sold them the game]].

->'''Fat Neil''': So you guys suddenly wanted to play ''Franchise/DungeonsAndDragons''?\\
'''Troy''': Yeah. Why wouldn't we? ''[the study group joins in with affirmations]'' It's cool. And when you play it, it makes you happy, like a dragon.

-->-- ''Series/{{Community}}'', "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons"

* ''LightNovel/MagiciansAcademy'' had one that even had an ArtShift to little 8-bit sprites for the characters.

* ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'', where the main character's newest bad habit was playing ''[[LawyerFriendlyCameo Ultimate Fantasy]]'' ("Welcome to the Taru Taru").

* First part of the second half of the anime, ''LightNovel/KazeNoStigma'' does this both in canon and as a plot point, except it's [[spoiler: actually people summoning and binding demons onto themselves under an internet page telling them that it's a real-life MMO. Who says [=LARPing=] is for sissies?]]

* ''Manga/WotakoiLoveIsHardForOtaku'' has several chapters where the four main characters play an MMORPG together, even though one of them isn't much of a gamer and the biggest gamer isn't a fan the genre. The avatars reflect their personalities: Narumi is a cute Elf assassin, Hanako is a sexy mage, Tarou is a stolid swordsman, and Hirotaka is a high-level archer with joke equipment. The session plays out as an extension of their offline interactions, bickering and all, that culminates in gamer Hirotaka practically one-shotting a rare monster that had threatened the other three with a TotalPartyKill. Later chapters reveal that Kou plays the same MMO as a high-level gunner, and Naoya later joins her as a CatBoy who starts off as very weak since he's not used to playing video games in general.

* ''Anime/GhostSweeperMikami'' has an episode where the protagonists are sucked into a possessed {{RPG}}.

** Volume 6 of the manga had an RPG mini-arc where Hayate, Nagi, and a few others entered a dungeon beneath a church to find a medal to help Hayate get his "butler" status back after losing a race. Yukiji-sensei came along, actually claiming to be [[Anime/RecordOfLodossWar Deedlit]].

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'':
** The episode "Mysterique Sign" only has a scene like this, but it includes TurnBasedCombat, attack calling and all the characters standing spaced out in a line. Lampshaded when a scarab flies by and heals the "boss" (a giant sort-of-cave cricket) with a text box showing up and everything.
** This trope is played out in its entirety in the novels with the short story ''Haruhi Suzumiya Theater''.

** Some of the magical mechanics are explained this way to the students. The newest adaptation is especially fond of these, replacing HexagonalSpeechBalloon sequences with dungeon maps complete with status screens.

* ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'', where the main character's newest bad habit was playing ''[[strike:VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI]] [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Ultimate Fantasy]]'' ("Welcome to the Taru Taru").

* Similar to ''Dark Dungeons'', the slightly less silly novel ''Mazes and Monsters'' by Rona Jaffe and the [[MadeForTV TV Movie]] adaptation sought to impress on us an {{Aesop}} about getting too wrapped up in fantasy. Jaffe based the novel loosely on a true story. While [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dallas_Egbert_III#Egbert_incident James Dallas Egbert III]] was indeed a player of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the tunnel event was totally unrelated to the game and actually involved his first suicide attempt due to depression from academic pressure and drug addiction.

** The fifth season episode "Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" sees the Save Greendale committee try to use a session of D&D to reconcile criminology professor Buzz Hickey with his estranged older son. Instead, they [[BreakingTheFellowship split into two competing groups]] as the Hickeys sublimate [[LikeFatherUnlikeSon their personal issues]] into their characters—Tiny Nuggins, a [[{{Hobbits}} Halfling]] Thief (father) vs. Tristram Steelheart, a [[ChurchMilitant Holy Cleric]] (son).

** ''Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger'': Some of the Kyurangers are trapped in an RPG by the villains, and seem to be assigned classes based on humor value: Lucky is [[WholesomeCrossdresser a witch]] (and his catchphrase is what triggers the fireball spell, leading to a couple {{Magic Misfire}}s), NiceGuy Spada becomes a rough-edged barbarian, TheStoic Stinger is a jester so he [[TheComicallySerious keeps involuntarily breaking into song and dance]], and [[KidHero the kid of the group]] Kotaro is the noble knight. Plus Champ, the big masculine guy of the team, is treated as [[SaveThePrincess the princess]] [[DistressedDamsel they need to save]], but he doesn't dress or act the part except as an ImagineSpot.

* The Direct-to-DVD ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' movie "Bender's Game" revolved around Bender playing ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' until eventually they find themselves in the fantasy world of [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Cornwood.]] The story's based off ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' but still counts.

The characters act in an episode emulating a role-playing game, either mirroring a [[TabletopGames tabletop game]] or WesternRPG, {{JRPG}}, or {{MMORPG}}. Either they're playing as in-game characters, having some imaginative dream sequence, or the normal MedievalEuropeanFantasy sequence gets derailed by it. Due to the popularity of specific forms of [=RPG=] in certain regions, it's common to see Western media referencing ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', Eastern media referencing ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'', and Japanese media referencing ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''. That said, it's more than possible to see references to any type of RPG, no matter the work's country of origin, and some creators are more than willing to shout-out more obscure games.

** ''Videogame/TinyTinasWonderlands'' is effectively the Dragon Keep DLC expanded into it's own game (along with a bevy of new fantasy-specific features and classes). Once again, the game is focused on yet another campaign run by Tina with a new set of players.

* Twice in ''Script/AHDotComTheSeries'': one Earth is a world-sized LARP, with genetically engineered monsters to behave like those in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. The first time, several characters are sent down accidentally, the second time they take a free-play offer.

** The fifth season episode "Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" sees the Save Greendale committee try to use a session of D&D to reconcile criminology professor Buzz Hickey with his estranged older son. Instead, they [[BreakingTheFellowship split into two competing groups]] as the Hickeys sublimate [[LikeFatherUnlikeSon their personal issues]] into their characters—Tiny Nuggins, a [[{{Hobbit}} Halfling]] Thief (father) vs. Tristram Steelheart, a [[ChurchMilitant Holy Cleric]] (son).

* An interesting version happens on an episode of ''Series/{{Community}}'' called "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" where Jeff and the gang try to help clinically depressed Fat Neil by playing a game of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' with him. There's no DeepImmersionGaming; almost the entire episode consists of the gang sitting around a table playing the game. However, this is contrasted with epic music and a hammy narrator, neither of which would sound out of place in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. The episode as a whole is an AffectionateParody of fantasy tropes in general. Also, seeing as so often portrayals of the game show it being addictive/dangerous/Satanic, as this very page can attest to, it was a breath of fresh air to see it portrayed as a way to ''help'' someone.

** ''Videogame/TinyTinasWonderland'' is effectively the Dragon Keep DLC expanded into it's own game (along with a bevy of new fantasy-specific features and classes). Once again, the game is focused on yet another campaign run by Tina with a new set of players.

* In an episode ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm'', Chloe can optionally play a little of D&D with Steph and Mikey, two other Blackwell students, the former being the game master. Steph returns in ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeTrueColors'', in which she eventually hosts a LARP campaing.

* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' has a [[spoiler:fake]] RPG ''arc''.

** The episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" revolved around the boys' obsession with ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', using Blizzard's actual software and one of their developer servers that was being used to develop/test ''Burning Crusade'' to film the in-game scenes, making the episode part {{machinima}}.
** They did ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' in "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers", with Cartman as Gandalf, his Fellowship on a quest (to return a pornographic videotape)...

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Marge Gamer" revolved around Marge's discovery of an {{MMORPG}} called ''[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Earthland Realms]]'', of which her son Bart is the BigBad known as the "Shadow Knight". Oddly enough, [[ItsASmallNetAfterAll every other inhabitant of Springfield other than Homer is also a subscriber]], and other than Bart everyone seems to mostly just play with the crafting and trade systems ignoring combat entirely.