Dungeons & Dragons in Stranger Things: why the game structures the whole show
Universe · Culture · The role-playing game
The show begins with a Dungeons & Dragons game in the Wheelers' basement, and every monster it invents gets a name taken from the game: the Demogorgon, the Mind Flayer, Vecna. It is not a wink, it is the spine of the show: here is how the role-playing game organizes everything, from the rules of the Upside Down to each character's role.
The essentials
- First scene: a ten-hour campaign, November 6, 1983
- Borrowed monsters: Demogorgon, Mind Flayer (Mind Flayer), Vecna, Thessalhydra
- The Dungeon Master: Mike in 1983, Eddie in 1986
- The rule: name the thing in order to fight it
Contents
Dungeons and Dragons in Stranger Things: the game of November 6, 1983
Ten hours of play, a basement, four twelve-year-old boys: the first scene of the show is the end of a campaign. Mike, the dungeon master, unleashes the Demogorgon on the party. Will, playing the wizard, has to choose between protecting himself and attacking: he casts a fireball, misses his roll, and the game stops without anyone knowing if he hit. He heads home by bike. He never makes it.
Everything is there: a monster you name before you see it, a choice between fleeing and striking, a die that decides. The show will take up that structure every season, and Will will throw his fireball again, for real, years later.
The Hellfire Club T-shirt, for your next campaign.
In the shopMen's Munson Hellfire T-shirt39,90 €See the product
Naming the monsters
| In the show | In the game | Who names it |
|---|---|---|
| the Demogorgon | Prince of demons, two baboon heads | The boys, Season 1 |
| the Mind Flayer | Mind Flayer, a psychic creature that enslaves minds | Dustin, season 2 |
| Vecna | Archlich, an undead sorcerer become a god | Dustin and Eddie, season 4 |
| The Thessalhydra | Many-headed hydra | Mike, end of season 1, in-game only |
The principle is explained by the children themselves: faced with the unknown, they look in the game handbook for the creature that looks most like it, and they adopt it. Naming lets them reason: if it is a mind flayer, it has a hive mind; if it is Vecna, you have to find his body. The game is their science.
A real game, real editionsThe manuals visible in the show are those of the period: the red box of the first edition in 1983, the “Expert” manual in 1984. Season 4 even has them play a campaign against Vecna by the rules of the time, with a final dice roll of eleven.
Each character has a class
From season 1 on, the children split into game classes, and the show respects them to the end. Mike is the paladin, the one who leads and protects. Lucas is the ranger, the scout with the slingshot. Dustin is the bard, the one who talks, negotiates, and knows the rules. Will is the wizard, the one who sees what the others do not see. Eleven, arrived later, is the group's “mage,” the raw power.
Season 4 extends the principle to the adults and the teens: Eddie is a Dungeon Master who ends up dying as a hero of his own campaign, and Erica, under the name Lady Applejack, a thief who kills Vecna at the table the same night he starts killing for real.
The Satanic Panic of 1986
Season 4 draws on a real episode: in the 80s, American parents, pastors, and journalists accuse Dungeons & Dragons of pushing teenagers to suicide and the occult. When Chrissy dies in Eddie's trailer, the town does not need proof: the Hellfire Club, with its name and its demon T-shirts, is the ideal culprit.
The show takes the side of the game, of course. It shows players who, thanks to it, understand the world faster than the adults, and a high-schooler hunted for having liked the wrong things.
The game closes the loop
The last season brings the table back: the characters, now adults, still have the dice, the handbook, and the conviction that naming a thing lets you beat it. What the show has been telling since the first episode is a group of players who refuse to let the game stop at the moment the die rolls.
The Dungeon Master figure.
In the shopLego Mike Wheeler Hellfire Club mini figure14,90 €See the product
The show's campaigns, one per period
| Date | Dungeon Master | The campaign | What she announces |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 6, 1983 | Mike | The Demogorgon appears; Will rolls the die and nobody sees the result | Will's disappearance, that same night |
| December 1983 | Mike | The Thessalhydra, beaten in ten hours of play | The Season 1 epilogue, and the slug |
| March 21, 1986 | Eddie | "The Curse of Vecna": Lady Applejack deals the fatal blow | Vecna's first real victim, that same night |
| Spring 1989 | Mike, then Holly | One last game with Max, then Holly's campaign | The game goes on without the group: the last shot of the show |
The real game, and what the show gave back to it
Dungeons & Dragons has existed since 1974, and the edition the group plays in 1983 is that of the red and blue boxes of the period, with its monsters with Greek names and its character classes. The creatures named by the show all appear there: Demogorgon, two-headed prince of demons; the mind flayer, or illithid, slave master with an octopus head; Vecna, a former king become a lich, whose hand and eye are legendary artifacts; the Thessalhydra, eight-headed hydra.
The game's publisher returned the favor: a starter set in the show's colors came out in 2019, with Mike's campaign, its figures, and its Demogorgon, and recent rulebooks cite Hawkins. For a whole generation, the show was the way into role-playing.
Each one's classes, and what they say
-
Will the Wise
The wizard, the one who casts the fireball. The most fragile at the table, and the one who ends up having real powers.
-
Dustin the dwarf
The stocky, loyal fighter, the science and humor of the group.
-
Lucas the paladin
The warrior, the first to fight physically every season.
-
Mike, Dungeon Master
The one who tells. He becomes again, in the last chapter, the one who writes the group's adventures.
-
Eleven, the mage
The name Mike gives her in 1983, before he even knows what she can do.
-
Erica, Lady Applejack
A level 14 thief, chaotic good, who kills Vecna on the board the night of her first real victim.
Dice, manuals, and T-shirts: the table is in the shop.
In the shopHellfire Club pin12,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
What is the role of Dungeons & Dragons in the show?
The game opens the show and gives their names to all the monsters. The characters use it to understand and fight what comes from the Upside Down.
Where does the name Vecna come from?
From Dungeons & Dragons: Vecna is an undead wizard become a god, one of the most famous villains of the game. Dustin and Eddie give that name to the season 4 killer.
What class does each character play?
Mike the paladin, Lucas the ranger, Dustin the bard, Will the wizard. Eleven is the group's mage; Erica plays Lady Applejack, a thief.
What is the satanic panic?
A wave of accusations, in the United States in the 80s, against role-playing games, judged occult. Season 4 stages it through the hunt for the Hellfire Club.
Is there a Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons box?
Yes, a starter box released in 2019, with Mike's 1983 campaign, its figures and a Demogorgon.
What campaign is played in the show's epilogue?
One last game at the Wheelers', with Max at the table, then a new campaign launched by Holly and her friends, which Mike watches before closing the door.