10 Celebrities Who Play Dungeons and Dragons

*Originally published on 2/10/11



When you hear the words, "Dungeons and Dragons", you probably picture a group of stereotypical nerds sitting in their mom's basement crafting tales of adventure because they have no social life. You may also picture it as a gateway to worshiping Satan (no, really, people thought that). While I haven't had a chance to play it myself, I know that it is just a game; and from the look of it, a fun game at that. Of course, it would appeal to me given that I am a pretty ardent geek.

You might be surprised to find out that even celebrities, those people who the media follows around to chronicle their every step, enjoy the game as well. There are quite a few celebrities who indulge in a bit of geekery (as TVtropes will prove), but among them there are quite a few who play the long running role playing game. Submitted for your approval, ladies and gentlemen, a list of ten big name celebrities who roll with d20's.

1. Tim Duncan

One of the more iconic players for the San Antonio Spurs is an admitted D&D nerd. He stands as proof that you don't need to be some out of shape basement dweller to play the game.

2. Judi Dench

The well renowned actress plays the game with her grandkids. More specifically, she acts as the DM (or dungeon master). As TVtropes mentions, a game narrated by her would be freaking awesome.

3. Michelle Malkin

Say what you want about the woman's politics, but the fact that she plays D&D makes her awesome in my book.

4. Vin Diesel

No wonder he's so good in action movies, he's got a +8 strength modifier. This is another celebrity who "breaks the mold" as it were. Word has it that during production of The Chronicles of Riddick, he was constantly asking co-star Judi Dench to join him for a game.

5. Wil Wheaton

Honestly, this one should come as no surprise. While many people loathe the character of Wesley Crusher, Wheaton has managed to laugh it off and become an icon of the geek community. The fact that he plays Dungeons and Dragons seems like stating the obvious, but I felt it was still worth mentioning.

6. Stephen Colbert

This is another one that should come as no surprise. If you watch The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, than you know that the man loves to work science fiction and fantasy references into his jokes. In fact you could argue that his show has only gotten better since he moved past the O'Reilly Factor parody and put more focus on geek humor.

7. Ben Affleck

It's true, he played it with Matt Damon when they were kids. I'm not sure if he still plays. I guess you'd have to ask him. At the very least, I have to figure he still has a soft spot for the game and looks back fondly on those old sessions.

8. Robin Williams

9. Marilyn Manson

I guess Manson found a sort of kindred spirit in this game as they both have been seen as a cause for supposed devil worship.

10. Mike Myers

So, there you have it, a simple handful of celebrities who play Dungeons and Dragons. There are actually a few others like Karl Urban. Others aren't quite so surprising like Patton Oswalt and Brian Posehn. Though you can see that love for the game ranges from the geekier celebrities to even the more athletic, "normal" ones.

Could you imagine a group of some of these celebrities gathering around a table to run a campaign? That would be awesome. They need to somehow make that happen as I would watch that.