Something Positive (the webcomic by R.K. Milholand found at www.somethingpositive.net) is in Parson's favorites menue on his internet explorer. Gaming features prominantly in that comic, with the protagonist, Davan, DMing and playing well known and obscure RPGs.

In some flashback strips, we see Davan and his childhood friends playing DnD or a psuedo DnD using whatever toys they happened to have lying around like dolls, blocks, action figures etc., much the way Efworld uses teddy bears, marshmallow peeps, and kids toys like the Arkenhammer.

I wonder if this is a nod to SP, a subconcious use of the conceit, or something that the writers used to do when they first started roleplaying too?