With the looming end of Stranger Things on the horizon, it’s not surprising that the Netflix series is collaborating again with Wizards for another boxed set -- Dungeons & Dragons Stranger Things: Welcome to The Hellfire Club. It’s even less surprising if you look up the price for some used versions of the original collaboration.
Both the 2019 Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set and the new D&DST:WttHC aim to appeal to a few different groups. That includes Stranger Things fans who haven’t yet played D&D and lapsed D&D players interested in returning because of Stranger Things, in addition to the obvious one – current players who are Stranger Things fans.
While both box sets go out of their way to evoke 1980s era D&D, the tones are a bit different. After all, Mike was the supposed creater of the adventure in the 2019 set, since he was the group’s DM on the TV show. Reflecting his taste and style made sense. By contrast, Eddie is the inspiration behind the new set, reflecting that he took over DMing and bringing with him a decided ‘80s heavy metal flair.
Those updates also result in a heftier box than the original. Unlike the style of box sets from older editions that left a lot of empty space on purpose to “leave room for notes” and such, D&DST:WttHC is literally packed full. The only empty space is two areas for tokens to be stored after they’re popped out of the sheets.
This box set is laid out very similarly to the D&D Starter Set: Heroes of the Borderlands. A “Read Me First Quick Start Guide” is right at the top, along with a photo the Hellfire Club members. The Quick Start Guide explains the roles of the players and the DM, and that the roles can be swapped later. The back has a legend so that the various components can be easily identified.
The Players Guide (a.k.a. rules) comes next, followed by the four adventures. One is for first level characters, one is for second level, and two are for third level characters. They can be run as one-shots or strung together as a mini campaign. All four of these booklets have a retro look with faux wear and tear.
Wizards definitely paid attention to how Beadle & Grimm’s produces its luxury adventure sets. I was always amazed by how B&G packaged everything, even in their platinum sets that came with large map tubes, so that everything in both the shipping box and adventure set was secure enough that it wouldn’t suffer damage en route. D&DST:WttHC is more compact, so while it’s less at risk for taking internal damage from movement, Wizards included strips of cardboard in key places to thwart internal wear and tear.
Also like B&G, D&DST:WttHC has monster cards, plus Wizards added spell cards and magic item cards. The cards for what to do on your turn are handy, as is the pad of Combat Tracker sheets. I say again, Wizards should sell those pads separately, too. The set also comes with dice, but more on those in a second.
Character and monster tokens feature B&W retro art. I like that the Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set and this one utilize character and monster tokens, but it makes me sad that Wizards didn’t follow up on the excellent Campaign Case: Creatures by releasing adventure-specific sets, etc.
A DM screen as solidly made as any you’re buy separately (as opposed to thin cardboard ones included in some prior sets). The DM’s side has the usual info plus a mini version of the Greyhawkins (Eddie's campaign setting) map by Stacy Allan and William Doyle. The player side is a much wider version of the box art with Eddie as DM/creator presiding over Greyhawkins.
The pre-gen character section in the D&D Beyond version of the set has a cool effect. Since each character has three sheets – one for first level, one for second, and one for third so players don’t have to level their characters – each pre-gen has its own section on the pre-gen “page,” A piece of retro-style B&W art depicts each character followed by its name, species, class, and a blurb above buttons for each level’s character sheet. But, when you hover over the B&W art it changes to color. It’s a small touch but cool one.
Notes from Eddie are scribbled in the margins throughout. Some are tips like advising players that no one is expected to memorize all the rules. Some are just fun, like Eddie’s note to himself that he can’t let the Vanishing Gnome module fall into the hands of Hawkins PD or they might blame him for an incident with stolen lawn gnomes.
Which is why the included set of 11 dice is such a disappointment. They’re the exact same set packaged with the Heroes of the Borderlands set, which makes sense from a logistics and cost standpoint. But let’s be real – a crimson red or opaque black set of dice would better match Eddie’s aesthetics than translucent pink dice.
Dungeons & Dragons Stranger Things: Welcome to The Hellfire Club does exactly what you expect – deliver for folks within the Venn diagram of loving Stranger Things and being interested in D&D. If you aren’t a ST fan, it’s a curiosity at best, albeit a well made one. Rating: B+
Both the 2019 Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set and the new D&DST:WttHC aim to appeal to a few different groups. That includes Stranger Things fans who haven’t yet played D&D and lapsed D&D players interested in returning because of Stranger Things, in addition to the obvious one – current players who are Stranger Things fans.
While both box sets go out of their way to evoke 1980s era D&D, the tones are a bit different. After all, Mike was the supposed creater of the adventure in the 2019 set, since he was the group’s DM on the TV show. Reflecting his taste and style made sense. By contrast, Eddie is the inspiration behind the new set, reflecting that he took over DMing and bringing with him a decided ‘80s heavy metal flair.
New & Improved
As I detailed in my 2019 review, that boxed set included a number of steps intended to make learning to play D&D easier as well as provide information for new DMs. That same approach is applied to the new set, updated for the latest ways Wizards makes it easier to introduce new people to D&D.Those updates also result in a heftier box than the original. Unlike the style of box sets from older editions that left a lot of empty space on purpose to “leave room for notes” and such, D&DST:WttHC is literally packed full. The only empty space is two areas for tokens to be stored after they’re popped out of the sheets.
This box set is laid out very similarly to the D&D Starter Set: Heroes of the Borderlands. A “Read Me First Quick Start Guide” is right at the top, along with a photo the Hellfire Club members. The Quick Start Guide explains the roles of the players and the DM, and that the roles can be swapped later. The back has a legend so that the various components can be easily identified.
The Players Guide (a.k.a. rules) comes next, followed by the four adventures. One is for first level characters, one is for second level, and two are for third level characters. They can be run as one-shots or strung together as a mini campaign. All four of these booklets have a retro look with faux wear and tear.
Wizards definitely paid attention to how Beadle & Grimm’s produces its luxury adventure sets. I was always amazed by how B&G packaged everything, even in their platinum sets that came with large map tubes, so that everything in both the shipping box and adventure set was secure enough that it wouldn’t suffer damage en route. D&DST:WttHC is more compact, so while it’s less at risk for taking internal damage from movement, Wizards included strips of cardboard in key places to thwart internal wear and tear.
Also like B&G, D&DST:WttHC has monster cards, plus Wizards added spell cards and magic item cards. The cards for what to do on your turn are handy, as is the pad of Combat Tracker sheets. I say again, Wizards should sell those pads separately, too. The set also comes with dice, but more on those in a second.
Character and monster tokens feature B&W retro art. I like that the Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set and this one utilize character and monster tokens, but it makes me sad that Wizards didn’t follow up on the excellent Campaign Case: Creatures by releasing adventure-specific sets, etc.
A DM screen as solidly made as any you’re buy separately (as opposed to thin cardboard ones included in some prior sets). The DM’s side has the usual info plus a mini version of the Greyhawkins (Eddie's campaign setting) map by Stacy Allan and William Doyle. The player side is a much wider version of the box art with Eddie as DM/creator presiding over Greyhawkins.
Hawkins Heroes
The pre-gens are specifically the ones the characters play in the TV show, and the character sheets even have TV characters’ names in the player fields. So you get Lady Applejack, CG elf rogue, Dustin’s Nog the dwarf cleric, Sundar the Bold, a human fighter, Will the Wise, a wizard, and Tayr the paladin.The pre-gen character section in the D&D Beyond version of the set has a cool effect. Since each character has three sheets – one for first level, one for second, and one for third so players don’t have to level their characters – each pre-gen has its own section on the pre-gen “page,” A piece of retro-style B&W art depicts each character followed by its name, species, class, and a blurb above buttons for each level’s character sheet. But, when you hover over the B&W art it changes to color. It’s a small touch but cool one.
Notes from Eddie are scribbled in the margins throughout. Some are tips like advising players that no one is expected to memorize all the rules. Some are just fun, like Eddie’s note to himself that he can’t let the Vanishing Gnome module fall into the hands of Hawkins PD or they might blame him for an incident with stolen lawn gnomes.
The Adventures
Not surprisingly, the four adventures sometimes echo what the TV characters experience, as if Eddie was working that into his campaign.- In the first-level adventure, The Vanishing Gnome, the titular character is hiding in the Shadow Dungeon, which is a mirror image of the Dungeon of Shadows, AKA the Upside Down from Stranger Things. As he tries to broadcast quests to adventurers, he accidentally wakes a spawn of the Demogorgon. It’s a fun first-level adventure that’s equal parts funny and spooky.
- Scream of the Crop is for second level characters. A farmer hires adventurers to find his missing daughter. Along the way, they stumble into a network of subterranean tunnels infected by a Gulthias tree, which in turn awakens plants with a taste for blood. This adventure could especially be dialed up to 11 on the spooky scale, with pumpkin-headed scarecrows and the like.
- Ballad of the Rat King is the first of the third-level adventures. As hinted at by the title, a greedy, treacherous musician learns to control rats by infecting them with defiling magic. As rats swarm the piers, local officials seek aid from adventurers.
- If any title reflects Eddie’s vibe, it’s the other third-level adventure, Devil, Metal, Die! The characters are given a chance to fight demons and devils in the Hellfire Games. If they agree, they are teleported to the Hellfire Dome. Survivors join the Hellfire Club.
Does It Make the Grade?
Clearly, a lot of thought went into this set to fuse D&D with Stranger Things on the overt, meta, and more subtle levels. Lead designer Justice Ramin Arman with Jeremy Crawford, Anthony Joyce-Rivera, Ron Lundeen, and Taylor Navarro did a good job. Art directors Kate Irwin, Kara Kenna, and AJ Hanneld invoked the Satanic Panic heavy metal era of D&D in smart ways.Which is why the included set of 11 dice is such a disappointment. They’re the exact same set packaged with the Heroes of the Borderlands set, which makes sense from a logistics and cost standpoint. But let’s be real – a crimson red or opaque black set of dice would better match Eddie’s aesthetics than translucent pink dice.
Dungeons & Dragons Stranger Things: Welcome to The Hellfire Club does exactly what you expect – deliver for folks within the Venn diagram of loving Stranger Things and being interested in D&D. If you aren’t a ST fan, it’s a curiosity at best, albeit a well made one. Rating: B+
