Review: D&D’s Welcome to the Hellfire Club — A Spoiler-Light Look at the D&D X Stranger Things Adventure Anthology

Above: Art by Butcher Billy

Spoiler Warning: This review contains details about Welcome to the Hellfire Club that may impact the player experience.

If you’re planning to play this as a player and not as the DM, resist the urge to read on!

This week, I had the pleasure of diving into “Welcome to the Hellfire Club,” the new Dungeons & Dragons adventure anthology inspired by Stranger Things. I purchased the physical/digital bundle from D&D Beyond so I could fully review both the book and its physical components.

(If you want to see the unboxing and my first impressions, check out our YouTube channel)

What’s Inside Welcome to the Hellfire Club?

This product contains four prewritten adventures, supported by an introduction and appendices with magic items, monsters, and pregenerated characters. While much of the intro material will be familiar to anyone who has read a D&D module before, there is one heartwarming exception:

Eddie Munson’s Notes

The otherwise-standard introduction includes and easy-to-miss touch: Eddies notes. The first of several handwritten-style notes from Eddie Munson to the DM in the introduction ends with a simple but sweet “I believe in you.”

This simple line of flavor text touched my little black heart. I firmly believe that no matter what level of experience you have as a DM, it's nice to hear every once in a while.

Above: Eddie's Note

Appendices: Magic Items, Monsters & More

Magic Items

There are 16 magic items across the anthology, but only three are original to this book. For a low-level group this is more than enough, but given Eddie Munson’s chaotic creative energy, I hoped for more unique, quirky items to match the vibe.

Monsters

The monster appendix is much stronger. The creatures fit the Stranger Things theme, leaning heavily into “demo-adjacent” designs. They’re challenging, flavorful, and consistent with the setting.

Pregenerated Characters

A small but meaningful quality-of-life improvement: the pregens link directly to D&D Beyond character sheets. This makes setup effortless and is exactly why I buy most of my D&D products through them.

Art Spotlight

I have to shout out the art team, especially Pig Hands. The art in this book is phenomenal and absolutely nails the Hellfire Club aesthetic. Everyone did an amazing job but Pig Hands has the best name so they get the shoutout.

The Adventures

The book contains four adventures, each designed to be approachable for new DMs and players. Let’s go in order, starting with the weakest.

Adventure 1: The Vanishing Gnome

This story begins with the party being lured into a dungeon by a gnome, to find said gnome, known for rewarding adventurers for finding him? I'm already annoyed.

The gnome’s only purpose is to push players into what becomes a straightforward and dangerous dungeon crawl, and offer advice if the players need it. It’s essentially a string of combat encounters with a little narrative glue, but not nearly enough to be satisfying.

I was ready to write this one off as a flop, but then I read a single line and everything changed.

“Beneath the Dungeon of Shadows lies the Shadow Dungeon, a gloomy reflection of the dungeon that borders the Veil of Shadows.”

Say that out loud. It’s absurd. It’s over the top. It's camp as hell. It’s Eddie Munson!

These adventures aren’t written like typical 5e modules, they’re written the way a metal-loving teenager in the 1980s would imagine them. Once I embraced that perspective, I enjoyed the book much more.

Even with that mindset, this first adventure is still boring and definitely the weakest of the batch, but “boring” isn’t the end of the world. Boring can be fixed with a little tweaking to the overall narrative to lend purpose and direction to these adventures.

As we’ll see later, it eventually finds its purpose when the anthology comes together in the final adventure.

Adventure 2: Scream of the Crop

The party travels to a small farm where the farmer’s granddaughter has gone missing, and the land has been blighted by a tree growing from a steak jammed into a dead vampire’s heart. Already, this is miles more engaging than the opening adventure.

It offers:

• Strong roleplay opportunities

• A more interesting setup

• A compelling emotional hook (the granddaughter)

• A problem created by a story that existed in the world before the party arrived

When I run this, I’ll shorten some of the random dungeon combat and let the story breathe. Even a few minutes of extra roleplay with the farmer can elevate this adventure dramatically.

Overall Scream of the Crop is not a slam dunk (sports!), but it is a step up from The Vanishing Gnome.

Adventure 3: Ballad of the Rat King

This title instantly had my attention. Rat kings are inherently stupid and fun, which is my favorite flavor of D&D.

Here, the party investigates a string of murders at the docks. It is the most roleplay-heavy adventure in the anthology and features a genuine mystery. The combat is repetitive, but the RP and clue-based structure more than make up for it. There’s even a delightful red-herring cultist encounter that I loved.

For DMs: This adventure benefits from planning. Consider when and how clues are revealed so the players feel like they actually solved the mystery, rather than passing a single Investigation check.

This one is absolutely my favorite. It’s flexible enough to drop into any campaign and can be run as a quick side quest or a longer investigation.

Adventure 4: Devil, Metal, Die!

The grand finale, and the adventure that finally ties the anthology together.

This is the most Eddie Munson adventure in the book: A brutal, over-the-top gauntlet run by Dardew, a rock-n-roll devil who wants to induct the characters into the legendary Hellfire Club.

It’s:

• Combat-heavy

• High energy

• Occasionally deadly

• Wildly flavorful

• Full of opportunities for loud, eccentric roleplay

There’s even a built-in mechanic that lets players avoid a true death in a fun, thematic way, something I really appreciate in a gauntlet. My only real gripes with this adventure would be the perception of some rooms not being combat rooms, when in reality every room is. For example one room feigns being a "Family Feud" themed trivia contest, which is really fun, until it isn't. No matter what happens the other team must be killed to win the room.

I also disagree with the crowd "showering the players with gold" upon completing tasks as stated in the treasure section of the adventure. I think gold is a boring, and the goal of joining the Hellfire Club is a reward in itself. That being said, if one of your players has gold madness and it would make them happy to have more, it doesn't hurt to keep it in.

The Missing Piece Falls Into Place

After reading this adventure, the purpose of the entire anthology clicked. Here’s how I plan to run it, and how I would recommend you tie the stories together:

Start the campaign with Dardew approaching the party seeking champions. He assigns them three trials (Adventures 1–3).If they prove themselves worthy, they earn the right to attempt Devil, Metal, Die! and join the Hellfire Club. (This is put in the most simple terms, feel free to add as much extra writing and flavor as you have time for to set up the journey)

I would run the adventures brutally, as a nod to the classic days of D&D when things were a lot more deadly. I would also make it clear to the players that I'm going to be brutal, while making the reward worth it. I would buy a real world book, a dark grimoire or something, and record the names of those who succeeded in joining the Hellfire Club in it. At the conclusion of Devil, Metal, Die! I would let the players each take up as much space as they would like to write their name and leave their mark on the story.

This simple story framework adds satisfying logic and momentum without complicating anything, as well as a fun tactile reward for the players after their toils.

Final Verdict: A Fun, Accessible Introduction to D&D

Above: Art by Butcher Billy

Welcome to the Hellfire Club is clearly designed for new players and in that context, it succeeds. It delivers:

• Accessible adventures

• Easy DM prep

• A balance of combat and light roleplay

• A beginner-friendly mystery

• A wildly entertaining finale

• Gorgeous artwork

• Great physical components

Even though it’s basic in places, it’s charming, thematic, and full of the creative energy fans expect from something connected to Eddie Munson.

Overall:

A very fun product and a genuinely strong introduction to D&D. Paired with its physical components, it could easily serve as a go-to starting point for new groups for years to come.

With only a few changes from an experienced dungeon master, this could also serve as a really fun adventure to run for experienced players as well.