One of the many nerdy nostalgia trips of Stranger Things is the show’s love of ‘Dungeons and Dragons.’ The pen and paper RPG was a classic storytelling tool for nerds of the 1980s, and though technology has brought us video games and many other timewasters, the joys of the game prevail today.
The pilot of Stranger Things first introduces us to our young heroes in the throes of a D&D campaign, a 10-hour odyssey that ends with a demogorgon thrashing the party despite Will Byers’ bold attempt to fireball the creature. After the game wraps up, Byers is then captured by a real-life demogorgon and the rest of the party meets Eleven.
The lore of D&D is thick in the show itself, which is why it makes sense that the RPG is getting its own Stranger Things edition. The game revolves around the Thessalhydra, a creature that Mike created when he was Dungeon Master in the show. And it sounds like it’s a prefab story where your characters are the same the people in the Stranger Things universe use in their D&D games.
That’s right: Will the Wise, Dustin the Dwarf and, yes, two demogorgons, will come with the Stranger Things Dungeons And Dragons Starter Kit, which is already up for preorder. According to Amazon, the D&D edition will be launched on May 1, giving you a few months to play through the campaign before Season 3 of the show drops on Netflix.
Past Meets Present With the @Stranger_Things #DnD Starter Set https://t.co/KUcPeQORBY @Wizards_DnD pic.twitter.com/utlZQE5FVW
— Geek & Sundry (@GeekandSundry) February 13, 2019
The best part is that the art of the Stranger Things edition of D&D has the same retro 80s look that much of the game’s art has had in that era, so it looks super cool. It’s a quick and dirty way to get into Dungeons and Dragons if you’ve never given it a shot, or if you’re that into the show that you simply must play every possible game that comes from its lore.
[via Mashable]
