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Magic Ampersand: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Ampersand.jpg|thumb|right|The essential element of this trope.]]{{quote|'''Ampersand Law #1.''' Early RPGs always had names in this format: [Something] & [Something Else That Usually Begins With The Same Letter]. (Dungeons & Dragons, Tunnels & Trolls, Villains & Vigilantes, Chivalry & Sorcery, etc.)|[http://www.criticalmiss.com/issue7/rpgcliche1.html RPG Cliche List]}}
Any fictional [[Tabletop Games|roleplaying game]] can be recognized as such, because it will have a title consisting of two alliterative plural nouns suggestive of its genre separated by an ampersand. A writer in need of a fictitious parallel to ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', for instance, would probably dub it something like "''Cloaks & Coffins''". Bonus points if the two nouns are [[Dungeons
The Magic Ampersand form serves the same instant-identification purpose for ad hoc roleplaying games that the [[Chest Insignia]] does for ad hoc superheroes. It's also frequently used to make jokes about fictional creatures playing a roleplaying game based on our own mundane lives.
Of course, sometimes there is [[Truth in Television]]: ''[[Bunnies and Burrows]]'', ''Castles and Crusades'', ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'', ''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'', ''[[Tunnels and Trolls]]''... all paying homage to the mother of them all, [[Dungeons
(Note: [[Pride and Prejudice]] and [[Sense and Sensibility (novel)|Sense and Sensibility]] are aversions of this trope, being [[Jane Austen]] novels that predate tabletop RPGs.)
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== Real-World Examples ==
=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
As mentioned above, the [[Ur Example]] is ''[[
* ''Axis & Allies'', the most famous [[World War II]] wargame franchise of them all.
* ''[[Bunnies and Burrows|Bunnies & Burrows]]'', where the player-characters are rabbits and hares.
* ''[[Castles and Crusades|Castles & Crusades]]''
* ''[http://playingattheworld.blogspot.ru/2017/12/a-forgotten-variant-catacombs-and.html Catacombs and Caverns]'' was one of the earliest D&D variants (1976).
* ''Chivalry & Sorcery''
* The superhero RPG ''[[Mutants and Masterminds|Mutants & Masterminds]]''.
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* ''Starships & Spacemen''
* Two different games called ''Swords & Sorcery''; one by SPI, one by White Wolf.
* More creatively named ''Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea''
* ''[[Tunnels and Trolls|Tunnels & Trolls]]''
* ''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'', one of the oldest superhero RPGs (and one that dares to be different by using the word "and" instead of an ampersand).
* [http://www.corone.co.uk/mainsite/hellcatsindex.htm ''Hellcats and Hockeysticks''], "A Role-Playing Game of chaos, anarchy, and decidedly unladylike bahaviour". (Presumably, either they chose not to or they could not get a license for [[St Trinian's]].)
* ''Steel & Flame''
* ''Spitfire & Straightlace''
* ''Blasters and Bulkheads''
=== [[Video Games]] ===
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* ''Wizards & Warriors'' (not one of the real ones listed above), in [[DC Comics]]' ''Robin''.
=== [[
* ''[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/282766/ogres-and-oubliettes Ogres and Oubliettes]'', set in a ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' universe.▼
* [[Firesign Theatre]]: Ah, I don't wanna play ''Dungeons & Vikings''!▼
* The ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]/[[The Martian]]'' crossover fic ''[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/396744/the-maretian The Maretian]]'' by Kris Overstreet, references ''Ogres and Oubliettes'' as a game played on the Pony homeworld.
▲* ''[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/282766/ogres-and-oubliettes Ogres and Oubliettes]'', set in a [[My Little Pony]] universe.
* ''Cities & Cyclists'', an RPG played in the ''[[Rosario + Vampire]]/[[Ranma ½]]'' crossover fic ''[[Big Human on Campus]]: After School''. The monsters try playing perfectly ordinary human beings going about their daily lives. It goes hilariously wrong.
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=== [[Literature]] ===
* Rona Jaffe's ''[[Mazes and Monsters]]''.
* Neal Stephenson's ''The Big U'' explicitly compares the LARP ''Sewers and Serpents'', played by characters in the novel, to ''Dungeons and Dragons''.
* Esther Friesner's fantasy novel ''Majyk by Hook or Crook'' has a brief mention of a game called ''Palaces & Puppies.''
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=== [[Newspaper Comics]] ===
* ''[[FoxTrot]]'' had a series of strips where Jason and Marcus were playing ''Houses & Humans'', which is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|pretty much what it sounds like]].
=== [[Recorded and Stand Up Comedy]] ===
▲* [[The Firesign Theatre]]: "Ah, I don't wanna play ''Dungeons & Vikings''!"
=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* The Dungeon Master's Guide for [[Dungeons
{{quote|''"We're pretending we
** ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' had a similar parody in one of its small in-between scenes.
** One college comedy magazine in the US had another "mundane life" RPG called ''Driveways and Desk Jobs''.
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=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* The webcomic ''Dungeon Damage'' had a group of Dragons playing "Humans and Houses".
* ''[[Something
* The title of ''[[Square Root of Minus Garfield]]'' strip [http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=2666 No. 2666: Lasagnas & Litterboxes Revisited], a retelling of a ''Garfield'' Sunday strip as a tabletop RPG session.
==== [[Campaign Comic]]s ====
* ''[[Benders and Brawlers]]'', based on ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''
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** In THAT universe, they're writing [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/emsandebes/episodes/0050.html Enlisted Men & Extraterrestrial Biological Entities] (''[[Alien (franchise)|Aliens]]'').
** Then [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/magiciansandmunchkins/episodes/0050.html Magicians & Munchkins], based on ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''
** [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/sandalsandspartans/0050.html Sandals & Spartans], based on ''[[300]]'', for the 300th strip.
** [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/avatars/0050.html Avatars & Avi-Fauna], based on ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]''
** [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/terminators/0050.html Terminators & Temporal Paradoxes], based on ''[[Terminator]]''.
** [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/carcasses/0050.html Carcasses & Carcharadons], based on ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]''.
** [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/trenchcoats/0050.html Trenchcoats & Turncoats,] based on ''[[Casablanca]]''.
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** [http://darthsanddroids.net/docs/0050.html Docs & Deloreans], based on ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]]''
** [http://darthsanddroids.net/hypnotoads/0050.html Hypnotoads & Hyperchickens] based on ''[[Futurama]]''
** [http://darthsanddroids.net/chocolates/0050.html Chocolates & Chumps] based on ''[[
** [http://darthsanddroids.net/ids/0050.html Ids & Idiots], based on ''[[Forbidden Planet]]''
** [http://darthsanddroids.net/egons/0050.html Egons & Ectoplasms], based on ''[[Ghostbusters]]''
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** [http://darthsanddroids.net/gags/0050.html Gags & Griswolds], based on ''[[National Lampoon's Vacation]]'' {{spoiler|and ''[[Terminator 2]]''}}
** [http://darthsanddroids.net/elliotts/0050.html Elliotts & Extraterrestrials], based on ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]''
** ''[http://darthsanddroids.net/moonshots/0050.html Moonshots & Mishaps]'', based on ''[[Apollo 13]]''
** ''[http://darthsanddroids.net/pacmans/0050.html Pac-Mans & Power Pellets]'', based on the original ''[[Pac-Man]]''
** ''[https://darthsanddroids.net/drivers/0050.html Drivers & Dubble-yas]'', based on ''[[It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World]]''
=== [[Web Original]] ===
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----
:It eventually came to the fans' attention that while ''[[
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