D&D 5E How Important is Stranger Things to the Success of 5e

[Snarf Zagyg]

Something I've been pondering .... and no, this isn't going to be one of my giganto-historical-bizarro posts, just a semi-baked thesis and a poll-

How Important is Stranger Things to the Success of 5e?

Is that a weird question to ask? Look, I know that there are a lot of independent reasons for 5e being successful ... it's easy to grok. It's similar enough to the TSR-era editions that older games have come back to it (and brought their familes/friends). It got the "COVID" boost. It has a successful social media presence - Critical Role, and people streaming on twitch. But ... and hear me out here ... what about Stranger Things?

One of the mysteries of 5e is that it continues to sell. Every year. Now, here's the thing ...

Stranger Things debuted in the summer of 2016. It's had four seasons ... the most recent this year (2022). It's on Netflix, which means that people keep watching it and keep getting re-introduced to it.

And D&D has always been featured in the show. Admittedly, until the most recent season, the actual D&D play has been light; but it's been there. And the overall gestalt (mind flayers, Demogorgon, etc.) has been very strong. It's practically an advertisement for D&D.

Now, while this doesn't seem that remarkable to someone like me who views Stranger Things as just one of many shows swirling around ... I have also heard from the younger crowd who views this show as a giant experience. It's really really popular with a wide swath of kids - some of who might be drawn to D&D. I've heard it compared to Star Wars (the original trilogy) in terms of the impact it has on a certain segment of the population. Which ... I mean, who knew? Not me.

So I thought I'd throw it out there as a poll question and general topic. What do you think?

 

[Professor Murder]

I DMed a first game for my nieces, nephew, their friends, and several in-laws earlier this year. They name dropped Stranger Things as what drew their interest and what made their parents feel it was safe and normal to give DnD a try. Everyone had a great time, and my wife and I bought the kids the Stranger Things starter set, along with their own dice. They were hyped and I have been drafted to run a game for the entire family for Christmas this year. So while anecdotal, it's having an impact.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

Sorry, I can't engage unless it's a "giganto-historical-bizarro posts(tm)" per my contract.


On the serious side though. I personally haven't interacted with anyone who has decided to play due to Stranger Things, but I'm fairly isolated from new players at the moment. I have had interactions with other DMs that have mentioned new interest that is at least partially fueled by Stranger Things so, while not being able to cite actual numbers, I feel there's at least some influence.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

I voted: Stranger Things has had a minor, but positive, impact on 5e's success.
If there was a 2.5 option for the OP - "Stranger things has had a significant (null hypothesis p<=0.05) impact on 5e's success" - I'd have picked it.

I also think: Stranger Things is the most important factor in Kate Bush's resurgence.
So there's that.

 

[Burnside]

Not the MOST important, but quite important, especially because it gives D&D a renewed jolt of interest every season, and the four seasons have been spread across 6 years, which is probably better for D&D than if there had been new seasons annually since 2016. Vecna is now a household name in the U.S. If even a fraction of the people who Googled "Vecna" this summer end up actually playing D&D, that is still a big chunk of people.

That said, I'm not sure it's more important than Critical Role has been to the growth of the game. It is more important than, say, Community with its two D&D-centric episodes.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

That said, I'm not sure it's more important than Critical Role has been to the growth of the game. It is more important than, say, Community with its two D&D-centric episodes.

I would say it's more important for a different set of people that may be interested in DnD. I know the Venn of the circles of people that watch CR and people that watch ST has overlap, but I also know there's enough of both circles that don't overlap that creating different ways of drumming up interest is significant.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I voted: Stranger Things has had a minor, but positive, impact on 5e's success.
If there was a 2.5 option for the OP - "Stranger things has had a significant (null hypothesis p<=0.05) impact on 5e's success" - I'd have picked it.

I also think: Stranger Things is the most important factor in Kate Bush's resurgence.
So there's that.

That's something to think about ...

If Stranger Things can drive Kate Bush up the charts (which is certainly a known and observable phenomenon), then certainly it has done something to D&D.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm with @Swarmkeeper. It's between 2) and 3). I picked 2), though.

My anecdotal evidence: As some of you know, I own a comic and game store. I sell D&D. I can tell you that in the past 6 years, I have sold MANY starter sets and core books to customers who specifically report that they wanted to check out the game after seeing it on Stranger Things (the biggest two bumps were the first season in general, and then the recent Hellfire Club vs Sports scene).

Take that for what you will, but I've seen it in action. There's also Critical Role, of course. And just generally that Geek is the new Cool. (I'm so happy with that. It's about time.)

 

[Burnside]

I definitely think the recent season and the Hellfire Club and especially the character of Eddie, on whom the nation has a collective crush, is a big deal right now for the game.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I definitely think the recent season and the Hellfire Club and especially the character of Eddie, on whom the nation has a collective crush, is a big deal right now for the game.

Eddie was killed by Aleena.

#TRUEFACTS
#JUSTICEFORBARGLE

 

[DEFCON 1]

Stranger Things has extended the reach of knowledge about the game. As @WarDriveWorley said... if we look at Venn diagrams of D&D and whatever it is that represented D&D in itself... the narrower the overlap of the circles, the more people unaware of what D&D either is or what it is about, learn of it.

The overlap between the circles of D&D and fans/watchers of The Big Bang Theory (for instance) was quite large. Thus the reach was not as far out. Those who watched TBBT had a better chance of already knowing/playing D&D. Stranger Things, however, has I think much less of an overlap with D&D (compared to TBBT or Community or especially/obviously Critical Role). You had all the younger people watching the show (because it involved little kids) who might not yet had been introduced to the game... you had all the Gen Xers who knew of and completely ignored D&D when they were growing up because it was for "geeks and nerds", finally seeing first-hand whatever it was those other kids were doing over there in the corner... and all the modern horror fans who enjoyed watching/reading this type and genre of story but whom never carried that over into playing games about it.

The reason though that I voted "minor" though is that while it did extend D&D's reach of knowledge farther out than before (so it's become more familiar to more people-- more people might even be able to describe what D&D is-- I do not think it has produced more players out of it than say CR or AI or Adventure Time or YouTube/Twitch did. Fans of and people on any of those platforms had a much easier bridge going from their personal interests to then learning D&D, becoming fans of D&D and then to actually playing D&D, and I suspect did so in greater numbers. I don't think Stranger Things did that nearly as much personally.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

So I thought I'd throw it out there as a poll question and general topic. What do you think?

Purely anecdotal evidence, but one of my daughters' 12-year-old friends just started playing 5e, and wears a homemade Hellfire Club T-shirt. And now my daughter's likely to start playing with that group.

Would these kids have started playing D&D at some point? I think definitely. But that they're playing right now is 100 percent because of Stranger Things, and specifically because of season four.

 

[Professor Murder]

While a touch off topic, I do wish to say that I will give very aggressive push-back against any existing gamers who voice resentment at Stranger Things being what motivates people to try our hobby. Get gone with that gatekeeping nonsense.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I voted minor but only because it is one part of a major change in the zeitgeist of what D&D is.

and it sint' even just D&D card and board games geek culture over all...comic characters and such

 

[Parmandur]

Not the MOST important, but quite important, especially because it gives D&D a renewed jolt of interest every season, and the four seasons have been spread across 6 years, which is probably better for D&D than if there had been new seasons annually since 2016. Vecna is now a household name in the U.S. If even a fraction of the people who Googled "Vecna" this summer end up actually playing D&D, that is still a big chunk of people.

That said, I'm not sure it's more important than Critical Role has been to the growth of the game. It is more important than, say, Community with its two D&D-centric episodes.

Yeah, Critical Role doesn't just put the game in people's consciousness, ot actually teaches them how the game works. Streaming is the real game changer for the game in the culture.

Stranger Things has certainly helped, though.

 

[Parmandur]

Purely anecdotal evidence, but one of my daughters' 12-year-old friends just started playing 5e, and wears a homemade Hellfire Club T-shirt. And now my daughter's likely to start playing with that group.

Would these kids have started playing D&D at some point? I think definitely. But that they're playing right now is 100 percent because of Stranger Things, and specifically because of season four.

I loved how the big game scene made D&D and basketball look so fun, because both are fun, and illustrated character conflict.

 

[Minigiant]

Minor.

The most important factor to 5e suspect is the current lower stigma of video gamers which rolled over to TT gamers and then P&P gamers.

 

[Mallus]

Minor, positive.

I'd say social media had a much larger effect.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I've never come across someone, online or off, who became interested in D&D due to Stranger Things. Has anyone? I don't buy that it helped in any meaningful way. It might contribute slightly to destigmatization, but most people coming to D&D now are 15-30 and didn't have much of a stigma for TT RPGs in the first place, just like they have zero stigma for video games, where 30 years ago, some people had a strong one. Destigmatization has been going on for a couple of decades on top of the natural decline caused by videogames etc. - I've lost count of how many shows featured D&D episodes (I feel like Community featured more actual "playing RPGs" than Stranger Things has, for example) - and how many celebs came out as being RPGers. I mean, that started with people like Vin Diesel in the late '90s (still a big star thanks to F&F etc.), and remember when Felicia Day and The Guild was a big deal? That was 15 years ago!

That's drastically different to Critical Role, and even many other, lesser-heard-of podcasts/streams, note, who have definitely made people go looking for TT RPGs.

If even 0.5% of people playing D&D today are doing it because of Stranger Things, I'd be shocked. I'd be guessing more like 0.01%. That might change in the future, but I don't think it's been meaningful yet, nor is likely to be given the use D&D largely as a vague metaphor and barely show it.

 

[TwoSix]

I was unable to vote for the correct choices, which were both 4 and 5.