It is known that Steven Spielberg likes to get to know his cast members when directing a movie, and that was no exception when filming E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.  When the cast were in Northern California he made the extra effort to get to know the kids.

Steven Spielberg's first experience with D&D was a bad roll. Robert MacNaughton recalls:

"He rolled the dice and of course it's all random, but the very first thing that happens - he comes across a giant snail and gets killed.  He rolled a one, which is basically death.  Henry and I still laugh about that to this day because I started freaking out because I killed the director who was making an effort."

It's a well known fact that they couldn't get the rights to Dungeons & Dragons for the actual movie so the scene in the kitchen where they are playing a game that looks like D&D and eating pizza was never referred to as the game.  The script was top secret at the time and when they sent a snippet to the rights holders of the brand they absolutely refused.  Robert MacNaughton said:

"It was funny because the script was top secret, so [the producers] sent just a few pages to the creator of Dungeons & Dragons...And he said, 'I absolutely will not allow the name D&D to be used because they're gambling on the game.'  I guess he misunderstood.  There was a script note that we had money for pizza on the table, and he thought we were gambling on Dungeons & Dragons.  That was a costly mistake.  He could have had all that high-end E.T. marketing."

Thanks to the excellent E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial The Ultimate Visual History book which is packed with behind-the-scenes stories just like this one from cast and crew.  It has a foreword by Drew Barrymore and introduced by Kathleen Kennedy.  The book has multiple pull-outs and replicas such as Steven Spielberg's stage pass.  Caseen Gaines is the author who also wrote the excellent We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy.  This is NOT a sponsored post.  This is just me highly recommending this book to all Spielberg and movie fans.