It was popularised in a *Something Positive* [comic in 2002][1], and became a running joke in the online RPG community. By 2007 it was widespread enough that it could be used as [a punchline in *DM of the Rings*][2] not for its outlandishness, but as a familiar line that would play into the reader’s sympathies for the beleaguered fictional DM. It’s debatable whether PerJee’s line is the absolute origin — it’s possibly not — but it’s the origin of the line’s spread as a piece of roleplaying culture. [1]: https://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05032002.shtml [2]: https://shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1165