When Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer were recently asked to name their favourite scene in their Spielbergian series, they rewound to the very first episode, when the Hawkins kids get to grips with the pen-and-paper fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). “The kids playing Dungeons and Dragons in the basement…” Matt reminisced with Variety. “That’s the first time we had them in a room, in a set, performing a scene from the show with cameras running.”
Although the Duffers’ affection for D&D is genuine – talking to The Telegraph in 2016, they cited their teenage nerddom as an inspiration for the series – there are question marks over whether D&D players feel the same way about Stranger Things.
I have never played but do admire the game’s enduring popularity.
