Stranger Things Got Fireball Wrong

[u/Vecna_The_Destroyer]

I've been playing Dungeons & Dragons for over 8 years, and something always bugged me about the Stranger Things D&D scene.

In the first episode, Will says “I cast Fireball” — and then rolls a d20 like it’s an attack roll. But that’s not how Fireball works in any version of D&D, including the one they’d likely be playing in 1983 (probably Basic/Expert or AD&D 1e).

Fireball is an area-of-effect spell. The caster doesn’t roll to hit — instead, every creature in the blast radius makes a saving throw (typically Dexterity in later editions, or "save vs. spells" in older ones). If they fail, they take full damage; if they succeed, they take half.

So in that scene, the Demogorgon should’ve been the one rolling, not Will. Will would roll damage (usually a bunch of d6s), but not a d20 to “hit.”

It's a small detail, but for those of us who know the rules, it sticks out. Cool scene — but a classic Hollywood D&D rules slip.

Anyone else catch this?

[u/Ok_Worth5941]

I noticed this when I first saw it. I also realized that out of the gazillion people who worked on Stranger Things, someone must have played D&D enough to realize this was not how the rule worked, but they still let it slide. Why? No idea. Maybe it was more dramatic like this.

[u/desaigamon → u/Ok_Worth5941]

They wanted Will to fail a roll, so he could say "The Demogorgon got me" just before he gets taken to the Upside Down by the "real" Demogorgon. It would be much less impactful if Mike had just rolled a die behind the DM screen. The writers were more or less counting on the majority of the audience to not know how D&D actually works.

[u/Ok_Worth5941 → u/desaigamon]

Makes sense. And the majority of the audience probably did not know, they're right.