D&D General Portrayal of D&D in Stranger Things 3 -some spoilers

Sacrosanct · Jul 11, 2019

Yeah, the behavior was exactly the same as my experiences as a teen in the 80s. However, no one I knew wore a costume either. That was the only thing that seemed off.

Umbran · Jul 11, 2019

MNblockhead said:
The only thing that didn't strike me as true was the wizard costume. While cosplay, LARPing, SCA, etc. were certainly starting to take off by the mid to late 80s, I didn't know anyone who dressed up to play DnD. Not saying nobody did, but I feel confident in stating that it was rare. Having Will dress up to DM seemed to be an anachronistic nod to modern assumptions.

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.

Parmandur · Jul 11, 2019

Umbran said:
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.

Also, it was *hilarious*, and I'm sure some folks were already mixing in costumes in 1985.

Umbran · Jul 11, 2019

Parmandur said:
Also, it was *hilarious*, and I'm sure some folks were already mixing in costumes in 1985.

Yes, it was. I liked the Neverending Story bit even more, but it was funny.

So, true story...

Long before I met my wife, she played D&D. It was a time with many missionary types going door-to-door to try to entice people to come to their religious congregations.

My wife's group was playing one day, when missionary types rang the doorbell. The group wasn't playing in costume, but... well, they owned cloaks. And an athame. Throw on the cloak, pick up the athame, and the family cat and answer the door....

I think this sort of thing drove the impressions of gaming in character more than anythign else, because I expect this was hardly the only such story - dressing up not to play, but to freak out or cheese off some one else.

Warmaster Horus · Jul 11, 2019

I loved the Inside Edition satanic panic lead-in!

MarkB · Jul 11, 2019

MNblockhead said:
The only thing that didn't strike me as true was the wizard costume. While cosplay, LARPing, SCA, etc. were certainly starting to take off by the mid to late 80s, I didn't know anyone who dressed up to play DnD. Not saying nobody did, but I feel confident in stating that it was rare. Having Will dress up to DM seemed to be an anachronistic nod to modern assumptions.

To me, it just seemed like part of Will's all-in effort to draw his friends back into the game. There didn't appear to be any suggestion that he dressed up like that whenever they played.

Sacrosanct · Jul 11, 2019

Umbran said:
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.

MarkB said:
To me, it just seemed like part of Will's all-in effort to draw his friends back into the game. There didn't appear to be any suggestion that he dressed up like that whenever they played.

I don't think it's the desire on Will's part that's in question. Rather, this was 1985. You couldn't exactly just order a wizard costume and special effects soundtrack via Amazon then. It is small town america. Even if they had a craft store with the proper materials, it would take a long time to get them made. kinda like how last season the Ghost Busters costumes were way out of period, and way more detailed than anything you saw in 1985.

Remember, in 1985 these were typical costumes:

Xaelvaen · Jul 11, 2019

ccs said:
Of the time? Pfft.
80's, 90's, 2k+, pre-80's, 100 years from now, whatever... This is normal life. This is how it goes. You start finding other interests (or responsibilities) & some things get shelved/discarded/scaled back to make room for the new.
I guarantee you that right now there are teens drifting away from D&D as they discover girls/boys, cars, drugs, sports or whatever else. Maybe they'll play less. Maybe never again. Maybe in 25+ years some of them will be making "Hi, returning player" posts....

Touche - I'm sure it is still just as common globally. In truth, even having started playing in the 80s, I never experienced this, or had friends experience this - been with my same group since 99 (Good grief, 20 years this November). There've been plenty of times I could play once a month, or times when I could only play with one or two of my group - wasn't even the game that made us fight for it so hard, to be honest - it was the company during the game.

Could also be that we're 3 sets of married couples playing the game together. Funny how life works out... from time to time.

pogre · Jul 12, 2019

We got around it in high school in the 1980s with our schedule. Fridays were for football and basketball games. Saturdays were for dating and girlfriends. Sundays were the boys' D&D session. Our girlfriends just considered it our "boys' time." Sadly, we never considered including the girls in our gaming sessions. It was not until college that we played with more women. We never completely set aside TTRPGs though.

pogre · Jul 12, 2019

One other thing, when I was watching episode two when Joyce (Winona Ryder) goes to visit the science teacher Mr. Clarke he is shown sitting painting a miniature with magnifier lenses on. Which is exactly what I was doing while watching. I just sat back, pushed up my magnifier lenses, and laughed at that. There is a key difference though - I'm a history teacher!