Dungeons & Dragons offers worlds of unlimited potential filled with excitement, danger and adventure where anything can happen. Rick and Morty is also a world of unlimited potential filled with excitement, danger and adventure where anything can happen, except with far more alcohol and profanity. And naturally, both of these worlds have crossed over more than once.
In Rick and Morty Vs. Dungeons and Dragons by Jim Zub, Patrick Rothfuss and Troy Little, Morty decides to learn about the popular tabletop RPG, Dungeons & Dragons. The local game store is filled to the brim with books, miniatures and toys of every kind imaginable. A girl working at the store starts talking to Morty, asking him questions about how and what he plays. Morty manages to smooth talk his way through the conversation only to corner himself into a predicament: the girl, Annika, invites him to play D&D with her that Saturday thinking that Morty knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't.
After an unsuccessful attempt at teaching himself about D&D, Morty turns to Rick with an ardent plea: he needs to learn about D&D to impress Annika. Rick is elated and promises to teach Morty everything possible about D&D. This involves a foray into 1st Edition where Morty sits in a garage with a group of old men. Rick then makes a virtual reality simulation where they experience 2nd Edition, which ends with both of them dying. What neither of them expect is Summer and Beth joining in on their game playing as they explore 3rd Edition. This devolves into Rick cheating and making nothing but combat encounters. Of all people to salvage the family's journey into D&D, it's Jerry who shows up and tells Morty that he's actually very experienced with D&D.
Rick makes a machine that finds a parallel dimension that is a perfect copy of the Forgotten Realms and takes everyone to the new world. There the true adventure begins. Jerry turns out to be an amazing D&D buff and everyone becomes their ultimate adventuring avatar, except Rick who turns into a tiny bard. The family's simple D&D sessions turns into a quest to rescue kidnapped children and prevent dark rituals of apocalyptic proportions. In the end the day is saved and Morty learns everything about D&D for Annika. A successful campaign indeed!
In Rick and Morty Vs. Dungeons & Dragons II: Painscape by Jim Zub, Troy Little and Leonardo Ito, things are much less positive. Rick notices that the entire world seems to be obsessed with D&D. Between the TV shows, podcasts, merchandise and everyone's rabid desire to play, Rick knows something is manipulating reality around them. Before he can discover the source of the reality-altering influence, Morty pushes Rick through a portal to another dimension.
The two find themselves in an unfinished campaign that Rick had started years ago. While Rick deal with his feelings about his old campaign, the real world finds itself in a terrible mess as Rick's old take over Earth and reduce it to a fiery wasteland. Rick, having gained immense power of his own, returns to Earth and battles his very first character, Bardrick. He kills him with a mighty punch through the midsection. With the leader of the invading world defeated, Rick mends reality and puts the world back to the way it was.
The most important thing that both of these adventures got right, conveying the true meaning of Dungeons & Dragons: having fun. The biggest lesson Rick needed to learn was that D&D isn't about “winning," it's about living a life outside of your own and experiencing whole new worlds. The spirit of D&D is the adventure and the joy it brings to the players. An open imagination is all that's necessary.