Tabletop RPGs are a part of Stranger Things' DNA. The very first scene of the show depicts our child heroes at a table, making their way through a (relatively) period-accurate 1980s D&D adventure. The contents of this adventure foreshadow key events of the season, a device the show repeats as it goes on, resulting in most of its major villains being named after D&D villains and monsters, such as Vecna and the Mind-Flayer.
If you like Stranger Things' vibe, and are looking for some games that will let you play out similar adventures, you're in luck today, because we've gotten together a list of TTRPGs that most align with that show's sense of paranormal mystery, nostalgia, and adventurous fun.
Kids On Bikes Core Rulebook
Most Faithful See at AmazonMonster of The Week: Hardcover Edition
Best Monster-Hunting Game See at AmazonCall Of Cthulhu
Best Horror Game $38 at WalmartSigil & Shadow: A Roleplaying Game of Urban Fantasy and Occult Horror
Best Mystery Game See at AmazonSCP: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game
Best Conspiratorial TTRPG See at Amazon- See More
Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook – Fifth Edition
Best Fantasy RPG $40 at Walmart
Kids On Bikes Core Rulebook
Nostalgic paranormal adventures
Basically modeled after Stranger Things, as well as the nostalgic stories it's based on, Kids on Bikes is here to give you the ideal small-town-mystery/childhood adventure experience.
Pros & Cons- Incredibly simple and easy to learn
- Essentially a Stranger Things TTRPG
- Revised and improved from the first edition
- A system so simple, experienced gamers might not find it satisfying
This TTRPG by Renegade Game Studios is deliberately modeled after Stranger Things and the nostalgic childhood adventures it's based on. Though the publisher doesn't explicitly acknowledge this, there's a lot of evidence that the parallels are deliberate, and, for us, that's a good thing.
This game is designed to allow gamers to play out small-town adventures involving kids dealing with strange happennings. It's an incredibly simple and beginner-friendly game, and has special rules designed to allow a superpowered child into the group without compromising the game's balance. There's a lot of clever game design going on here. If you want to bring the child cast of Stranger Things to your table, this is the game for you.
Best Monster-Hunting GameMonster Of The Week: Hardcover Edition
Hunt the things that stalk the night
Modeled after episodic monster-hunting stories like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, Monster of the Week is a great urban fantasy TTRPG that uses simple rules to allow you to play a diverse array of characters.
Pros & Cons- Amazing fusion of simplicity and customizability
- Play just about any character you want
- Relive tons of TV adventures
- Its characters tend to be a lot less overwhelmed than the ones from Stranger Things
Also from Renegade Game Studios, Monster of the Week is modeled on another subgenre of urban fantasy show, the so-called 'monster of the week' series. We're talking shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, and the X-Files, where each episode is a relatively self-contained adventure starring our cast of heroes up against a different monster.
You can do a lot of cool urban fantasy stuff with this game. Though its characters are a bit more powerful and less haplessly overwhelmed than the Stranger Things cast, this game still gives you a great paranormal mystery experience.
Best Horror GameCall Of Cthulhu
Solve terrifying mysteries
The current edition of a classic RPG system, Call of Cthulhu is a horror game full of paranormal mysteries with horrifying answers, perfect for replicating the in-over-your-head dynamic of Stranger Things.
Pros & Cons- Great investigative experience
- Be properly overwhelmed by horrible monsters
- A classic in horror roleplaying
- Significantly darker than Stranger Things
If you want that experience of being a hapless mortal overwhelmed by the horrific monsters you're faced with, this is the game for you. Perhaps the definitive Horror TTRPG, Call of Cthulhu casts you as a paranormal investigator in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, a world of mind-shattering horrors and extremely dangerous paranormal hazards, where your characters are always just a few likely failures away from losing everything.
Its only real flaw, from the perspective of this list, is that it's perhaps a bit too overwhelming. The fun of adventure is mostly gone here, replaced by pure horror.
Best Mystery GameSigil & Shadow: A Roleplaying Game of Urban Fantasy and Occult Horror
Occult investigations
This Urban Fantasy horror game is designed to facilitate the gradual discovery of the paranormal in a way few Urban Fantasy games can really pull off, creating an experience that wonderfully replicates Stranger Things' mystery element.
Pros & Cons- Amazing handling of mystery
- Great replay value and customization
- Leans toward horror and away from adventure
One of the best things about Stranger Things is its mystery element. Our characters begin unaware of the paranormal, and gradually discover what's going on through trial and error. No game replicates that process like Sigil & Shadow.
This Urban Fantasy horror game is designed to accommodate different variations on various urban fantasy monsters. In a game like D&D, once you've encountered vampires in one campaign, you're now cursed to forever know how vampires work in D&D, because the vampires you encounter in other games will be taken from the same monster manual. Sigil & Shadow includes extensive customization for its monsters, allowing each campaign to renew the experience of discovering how they work and how to deal with them.
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Posts Best Conspiratorial TTRPGSCP: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game
Live long enough to become the villain
Based on the extremely popular collaborative writing project, the SCP TTRPG allows players to take the role of the shady quasigovernmental organization controlling the supernatural and hiding anomalies from the public.
Pros & Cons- Be the shady institution managing supernatural horrors
- Tons of fun and iconic monsters
Stranger Things is a conspiracy thriller. Its heroes don't just deal with supernatural horrors. They deal with the corrupt, immoral, but immensely powerful institutions fighting to hide those horrors from the public and use them for their own ends. If you and your players want to play a game centered around such an institution, the SCP Foundation is here for you.
This secret, sinister organization charges itself with containing "anomalies," with the goal of protecting the public from both the knowledge of their existence and the harm they could potentially do. This game places you in the role of Foundation agents, working to preserve that secrecy, a task often drenched in moral ambiguity.
Best Fantasy RPGDungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook – Fifth Edition
Join the Hellfire club!
Title Dungeons & Dragon's Player's Handbook Genre Games Publication Date August 20, 2019 Age Range Recommended 22+ Number of Pages 320The most popular TTRPG on the planet requires no introduction, but we would be remiss to make a list on Stranger Things without acknowledging the game that makes up so much of its DNA.
Pros & Cons- Simple and easy to learn
- Full of iconic monsters
- A rich, decades-long history
- Lack of character customization
D&D is a major element of Stranger Things, to the point that we'd be remiss not to include it on this list. Though this game's setting is not similar to that of Stranger Things, and its tone is only somewhat similar, this game nevertheless contains the origin of many iconic elements of Stranger Things. The names Vecna, the Mind Flayer, and the Demigorgon originate from this game, and it will allow you to play out your own fantasy adventures just like the kids at the Hellfire Club do.
The product recommended here is the current edition of the game. Many of its details are different from the game shown in Stranger Things, but it gleefully embraces the legacy Stranger Things draws on.
FAQ
What RPG game is in Stranger Things?
The easy answer to this question is that they play Dungeons and Dragons. Of course, they don't play the current version of the game, which was released in the 2010s. Gamers in the early '80s would most likely be playing the first edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Unfortunately for those interested in re-enacting their adventures, this edition has been out of print for decades. The player's handbook our child heroes most likely would have been playing from is now a high-value collectors' item, used copies of which will set you back thousands of dollars.
Is there a game based on Stranger Things?
There are several board games based on or related to Stranger Things. There is no full TTRPG dedicated to adapting the show or its universe. There is, however, a D&D 5e Starter Set specifically based on Stranger Things. Don't be fooled by its vintage cover. It uses the modern, fifth edition rules for D&D, though it's still a fun product containing speculative recreations of the kids' characters as they might exist in the modern game.
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