Vin Diesel may be known for the "Fast and Furious" franchise, but way before he was racing cars as Dominic Toretto, the actor was playing "Dungeons & Dragons."
He's such a big fan he was asked to write the foreward to the 30th anniversary edition of a coffee table book on the popular roleplaying game.
Saturday, during his first appearance at New York Comic, Diesel geeked out about his love for the game while talking about what attracted him to his next movie role in "The Last Witch Hunter."
"I guess I'm safe in this room. It's no secret that I love 'Dungeons & Dragons,'" the actor said to a thunderous round of applause and cheers. "If you'll indulge me, I actually had a character that was a Witch Hunter. And some of the diehard second-edition 'Dungeons & Dragons' players are saying 'We never saw the Witch Hunter class!'"
This was where Diesel showed off his D&D knowledge.
"There was a third-party set of books that actually had a class Witch Hunter," he said. "And I played a Witch Hunter! The idea that I was able to realize that in a way, if I could go back to that kid, that 17-year-old kid that was rolling that 20-sided dice, and tell him, 'Someday, you are going to be in this epic film called 'The Last Witch Hunter,'' I never would have believed it. But dreams do come true."
Moderator Josh Horowitz noted you couldn't tell this story to a more perfect audience, to which Diesel replied, "We are home, Josh. We are home."
As a result, "D&D" continued to come up several times during the panel when it was time for questions from the audience.
One fan asked Diesel his "Dungeons & Dragons" name.
"I stole the name from a popular author," admitted Diesel before telling the audience his name was Melkor, based on the dark lord from "The Lord of the Rings" who had a giant army of creatures ranging from orcs to vampires and werewolves.
When another fan asked if he has ever played with any celebrities, Diesel responded no.
"I know. it's so bad," said Diesel. "I recently was on The Nerdist about a week ago and I realized I haven't rolled a 20-sided die for over a decade," said Diesel to the dismay of many fans. "I know it's sad. It's not good. It's sad. But for some reason, while we were campaigning on camera, I rolled two criticals and I was just like, 'What? I still have it?'"
Diesel said he will be playing the game in the near future with some celebs.
"The writer of 'Fast and Furious' is running a campaign, and has just recently invited me to come play," said Diesel.
Diesel decided to test the waters to see just how nerdy the crowd was.
"Did anyone ever play 'Bunnies & Burrows?'"
But it seemed like the 1976 role-playing game where you played as rabbits was a bit of a stretch for NYCC-goers. When his question was met with laughter, he shied back, "Okay, forget it."
