D&D: So You Want to Meme Up Your Game, Huh?
Stealthily inserting memes and other pop culture references into your D&D game is the right and privilege of any DM or PC.
It is a rite of passage that every D&D player or DM goes through at some point. No matter how immersive the game. No matter how serious the roleplaying. There will always come a point in which someone, somehow slips a cultural reference or other meme into their D&D game. Even the designers of D&D are unable to resist the siren song of memery.
It is honestly better to not fight the urge. You can resist all you like, but eventually, human nature and the circumstances of your story will conspire, and next thing you know you’ve got everyone riding on the back of a David Hasselhoff just like in Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie.
So since you’re gonna do it anyway, here are some other, potentially subtler ideas to include in your next game.
The Great Bard
This one might start as mere tavern rumors. Perhaps players might hear of a famous Bard who is capable of making even the most cold-hearted demon laugh. Maybe they even attend a performance by this great Bard and feel their spirits lifted. Possibly even to the tune of a boon (epic or otherwise).
Once they appreciate the joy that the great Bard can bring into a person’s life, they could be approached by a despondent NPC. Someone real down, in need of cheering up. And as it happens, the great Bard is performing in the very town they’re in. Which, with minimal prompting, should get the PCs to suggest seeing the Bard, only to learn that, well…
The Copper Merchant
This meme can be a ready made quest. It is absolutely perfect for low-level PCs. So pull this one on your friends at the beginning of your next campaign. It all starts off so innocently. A humble merchant approaches the PCs, asking them to trek through hostile territory to retrieve some valuable goods from a reputable merchant.
The goods in question? Some fine quality copper ingots. After being given a bag of money, make sure to let them know that the copper ingots that are put before them are not of good quality. And the copper merchant is unhelpful. Terrible customer service. Now it is up to the players to figure out how to get only copper ingots which are of good quality for their employer, despite the copper merchant refusing to hand back over the bag of money that has already been paid.
Giant Rolling Boulder Trap
This one is less clever. But very effective. Just take the intro to Raiders of the Lost Ark and use it in a D&D campaign. Sure, maybe the players will catch on quick. But it’s hard to be mad when you find yourself standing in front of an idol, knowing full well that a giant boulder is going to come rolling at you the second you swipe it.
It just works. And you get your meme-ing out of the way while setting an adventure in motion.
An Unforgettable Luncheon
The worlds of Dungeons & Dragons are full of unexplainable and wondrous, magical phenomena. Why not take one of nature’s most majestic displays, the aurora borealis, and localize it entirely within a single, unexpected area, despite the part oft he country, time of day, and time of year. And it’s not even that obvious, depending on the place/set up. Magical light displays are always happening. Just make sure to have something fun to investigate after the realization sinks in.
The Ogre in the Swamp
Next time your players happen to be traveling through a swamp, all you have to do is suggest that an ogre might live nearby and you’ll make everyone groan/stand up and applaud how clever you are. Maybe they have seen telltale signs of an ogre’s hut. Maybe someBODY will have told them to beware the ogre back in town. You don’t even have to do much more than that.
But, once you’ve set the expectation you can break it by having it be an actual ogre and then making a boss fight of it or something.
Just don’t do all of these at once. Including these in your game doesn’t make you terribly clever. None of these are “good ideas” for “people who want to make friends” but, you know, sometimes you just gotta make a real bad decision for yourself and others.
