Arilyn
Hero
It is perhaps as much a nod to him being... a tad desperate. Look at the past two seasons, what that kid went through. Consider how much of life (and growing up) he's missed just dealing with all that crud and the repercussions. He, very desperately, wants things to be *NORMAL*. Which, to him, is still hanging out in the game room with his friends playing games. They aren't interested. So, what does he do? Try to up production values! Careful battlemaps, costumes, all the bells and whistles he can, to get their attention and company.
What's not true about that?
Remember - the show is about the characters first, not about all the things it references first.
This is what I was thinking too. Will, trying to get back to the way things were, before the real monsters showed up...and girl friends. At the end, Mike tells Will that be can find a new group, but Will rejects this. He'll play with his friends, but he's not going to look for a new D&D group in his new town. This fits Will's character. To me, this is exactly how Will would react.
I wonder what the effect of dealing with real monsters in your town, especially after losing people you know to these horrors, would have on playing D&D? Need it more for escapism? Not wanting it because it's too close to what you've gone through for real? Don't need game monsters cause dealt with real thing? No real effect at all, because D&D is just a game?