Stranger Things Monsters in D&D (#127)

Right now, literally all I can think about is Stranger Things. It’s taken over my entire life and I don’t know how to stop thinking about Joseph Quinn and Jamie Campbell Bower. So whereas our usual D&D episodes have been more discussion-based or ones we both pitch in for, I’m commandeering this week’s episode to talk about — you guessed it — Stranger Things.

Stranger Things debuted on Netflix in 2016 and introduced Dungeons & Dragons to a new generation of players. D&D has a huge influence in the show, with the main characters seen playing it on multiple occasions, and the events of their games being reflected in their actual lives — so much so that monsters are invading their small town of Hawkins, and they are hugely inspired by, and named after, the monsters of D&D.

So in this episode, I’m going to talk about each of the monsters featured in the show, and talk about their actual original monsters in the canon of Dungeons & Dragons. By the way, if you haven’t caught up yet, don’t worry - I won’t be spoiling too much!

Demogorgon

The first monster the kids come across is the Demogorgon. The Demogorgon has been central to the plot of the series since the opening scene of season 1, where it attacked and kidnapped Will.

Despite being the main antagonist of the first series, the Demogorgon actually doesn’t look much like its game counterpart at all. 

The Demogorgon of Stranger Things, is more of a mash-up of 1980s movie monsters. It has a relatively humanoid appearance and is fairly small in stature, standing scarcely taller than a human. It has long claws and a giant fanged, petal-like mouth.

D&D’s Demogorgon, however, is almost nothing like this. It’s a famously difficult demon to beat. It’s eighteen feet tall with two apelike heads and long tentacles. His massive torso is somehow both incredibly muscular and as flexible as a snake, with a reptilian lower half and with a massive forked tail.

His left head is intelligent, charismatic, and capable of formulating careful plans. The right head is violent, impulsive and feral. He is chaotic evil in alignment, but although terrifying and utterly deadly in combat, he prefers to leave battles to one of his numerous powerful minions.

While the physical description of the Demogorgon doesn’t quite match up, there are some similarities. The D&D Demogorgon (there is only one, not several) is a demon lord set on chaos and destruction with a goal to see the world dragged into the Abyss (a.k.a. The Upside Down). It is strongest in its lair, located on the Gaping Maw, which, much like the Upside Down, is full of confusing mazes and cold darkness.

The D&D monster and the Stranger Things villain also share some capabilities. The Demogorgon uses telekinesis and is incredibly strong and perceptive. But that’s where the comparison ends; unlike in the show, the Demogorgon isn’t particularly weak to fire and it can’t teleport.

Here’s a bit of history about the Demogorgon, from an article on the official D&D website (linked in the notes):

Demogorgon was one of the first two demon lords, making his debut alongside Orcus in 1976. Both appeared in Eldritch Wizardry, the third supplement to the original D&D box set, and Demogorgon was a spectacular foe from the start. Though devotees of Orcus might disagree, Eldritch Wizardry suggested that Demogorgon might be “supreme” among demons. He definitely was supremely weird, with a reptilian body, tentacled limbs, and a pair of baboon heads!

When he returned in 1977 in the Monster Manual for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, he was bestowed with the title “Prince of Demons” and a hatred of Orcus, creating a long-standing feud between the two.

A year after the launch of 4th edition D&D, the Prince of Demons scored a coveted position on the cover of Monster Manual 2 in 2009. That book detailed a demon lord focused on mindless destruction. The 4th edition also remade Demogorgon as a primordial, making another change to the classic villain’s backstory. However, after this impressive initial appearance, Demogorgon slipped back into the shadows.

Most recently in 5th edition's Out of the Abyss, Demogorgon is once more a rampaging monster, said to be “the embodiment of chaos, madness, and destruction.” Unsurprisingly, he also proves himself to be one of the most dangerous demon lords invading the Underdark, and a herald of all-out destruction.

So, it still isn't really something you want to run into in your game. With a challenge rating (CR) of 26, even a party of four characters at level 20 would need some lucky dice rolls to survive the encounter.

Mind Flayer

The second notable Stranger Things monster to draw its inspiration (and name) from D&D owes a lot more to its in-game counterpart than just a name. A year after their encounter with the demogorgon, the kids are trying to move on with their lives but it isn’t long until disaster strikes again. When the kids realise what’s going on, they name their new foe the Mind Flayer.

In Stranger Things, the physical manifestation of the Mind Flayer is a mass of writhing, fleshy limbs. It’s gigantic, looming at least 50 storeys tall, and has a distinctive spider-like appearance. Some of its limbs branch into several smaller appendages, and it is visually similar to the vines that overrun the Upside Down. The body also features an elongated, flame-shaped head that sprouts from the central body. The creature's presence is often accompanied by unnatural red lightning.

The D&D mind flayer, though, is completely different in appearance. (It’s funny because in Stranger Things, there are loads of demogorgons but only one massive Mind Flayer; but in D&D, the Demogorgon is one entity, but there can be multiple mind flayers.) Mind flayers are also known as illithids in D&D and have been featured in every edition.

A mind flayer stands around the same height as a human, typically between 5'4" and 6'2", with a humanoid shape and narrow build. Its head resembles an octopus, with four writhing tentacles where its mouth is (much like an Ood in Doctor Who). Its skin colour ranges from mauve to a greenish lavender, soft and damp like an amphibious creature, and constantly covered by a layer of glistening slime.

A mind flayer's hands have three narrow reddened fingers and a thumb, while its feet have two webbed toes. Its fingers and toes are capped with sharp nails. Its eyes are pure white. The mind flayer's most deadly physical feature is its tentacled mouth. Its four tentacles can be extended from around 2 feet to around 4 feet in length, and the mind flayer can manipulate them with great precision. Its small, circular mouth is lined with rows of teeth. It constantly drips an oily slime.

Mind flayers are typically dressed in the dark and menacing fashions of the Underdark. Black robes are common, with tall neck frills, and sometimes adorned with skulls, armoured plates, or cloaks. They often carry protective magic items. Some will wear a unique illithid dampsuit, a moist leather bodysuit intended to protect the mind flayer from deadly heat and dry conditions.

While the D&D mind flayer might not look anything like the Stranger Things monster, the way that they operate is almost identical. Dustin described the D&D Mind Flayer as an inter-dimensional monster whose origin is unknown (even to the beast itself), which enslaves other species by taking control of their brains one-by-one.

In the canon, they rule worlds with their mind control and collective consciousness, and prefer to speak through telepathy. They are connected to a leader called an Elder Brain, and mind flayers only consume humanoid brains. They attack with psychic energy and can read thoughts.

That is exactly what season 3 monster does, beginning with Billy, basically controlling him as a puppet. Throughout the show, the characters refer to the monsters and vines of the Upside Down as a “hive mind”, and all of the monsters, including Vecna (who I’ll get onto next), control their victims through a form of mind control. This proves that while Stranger Things’ Mind Flayer may differ in appearance from the game’s slender, squid-faced humanoid, its function is almost identical.

So how about facing up against a mind flayer in-game? While a party of four characters at level 6 shouldn’t have any problems with its Challenge Rating of 7, the devastating Extract Brain action can instantly kill. In any setting, mind flayers are best avoided.

Vecna

Now we come to the latest Stranger Things villain, and the most terrifying of all. In the newest season of the show, the now teenage crew faces a murderous being they name after the D&D beast Vecna. (I’m not going to go too much into the plot related to Vecna in the show, because it’s still so new and not everyone has seen it yet. A lot of it was spoiled for me before I watched it and I wished it wasn’t, so I won’t spoil it for you.)

Vecna has been around since 1976 and has appeared in various forms in virtually every edition of D&D, starting as merely a disembodied hand and eyeball, before later appearing as the fully incorporated archlich and god that he is depicted as today. As well as being the key villain in season 4 of Stranger Things, Vecna also showed up in Critical Role’s first campaign, Vox Machina.

As D&D lore goes, Vecna was born over a hundred thousand years ago in the Greyhawk world of Oerth, the son of a hedge witch who was exiled for practising necromancy. Over time, he learned that and other kinds of dark magic for himself. In the course of his life, he heeded the dark voices in his head and conquered vast realms and cities from the comfort of an obsidian tower. Eventually instead of succumbing to death, he chose undeath as a hateful lich (a spellcaster who seeks to defy death by magical means).

He had so much power that few dare to say his name and call him The Whispered One, the Master of the Spider Throne, the Undying King, or the Lord of the Rotted Tower. It’s said that Vecna has so many followers that he is now a god. His alignment is lawful evil — as the person who plays him says (I won’t say who in case you haven’t watched the show yet and I don’t want to ruin it), he isn’t chaos — everything is carefully thought out, every move carefully planned on his mission to take over the world.

In Stranger Things, the kids are shown playing D&D, DMed by the beloved Eddie Munson, and facing off against Vecna. But when a real-life sorcerer who appears to be undead begins terrorising their small town, the characters name him Vecna.

In terms of D&D lore, there is no connection between the two Vecnas. The Vecna in Stranger Things is merely named that by the protagonists who needed to call this mysterious monster something - and that was the most logical name they could think of on the spot. The characters continue to call the creature Vecna throughout the entirety of the season, even after discovering the villain’s true identity.

Vecna is definitely one you don’t want to face in a game of D&D unless you’re a seasoned pro. While the D&D 5E stats for Vecna give him the same CR 26 as Demogorgon, he’s got some strong actions that could easily wipe out an experienced party.

He can cast Dread Counterspell as a reaction, which is described as such: “Vecna utters a dread word to interrupt a creature he can see casting a spell. If the spell is 4th level or lower, it fails and has no effect. If the spell is 5th level or higher, Vecna makes an Intelligence check (DC 10 + the spell’s level). On a success, the spell fails and has no effect. Whatever the spell’s level, the caster takes 10 (3d6) psychic damage if the spell fails.” So… pretty brutal.

On top of that, he has an action that can instantly kill a character and turn them into a zombie under his control. He also has 32d8 + 128 hitpoints, five legendary resistances per day and can cast a counterspell as a reaction once per turn.

And if that’s not enough (he has plenty more tricks), his strong spirit will create a new body for him if he dies.

So there are the main 3 villains in Stranger Things, and a bit about their D&D counterparts. Each of them has such a big history that I haven’t gone too in-depth, so if you want to learn more about them, you can find some of the links on our website in the notes for this episode.

Also, if you want to combine Stranger Things and D&D, Roll20 has a Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set! It contains everything players need to embark on a Stranger Things adventure. It's a great way for new as well as seasoned players to experience the D&D adventure that Mike Wheeler has created for his friends. Pick your character - will you be Will the Wise or Dustin the Dwarf? Get your fireballs ready as you investigate the mysterious castle and battle the ferocious Demogorgon. If you want to check it out, I’ll add it to the list of resources on our website.