PDA

View Full Version : Question about timing



Qwertystop
2010-09-15, 09:07 AM
I'm thinking of trying to set up a D&D club at my school, but lunch is only 40 minutes, and that is when any official club might meet. We would probably meet once a week. Is there any point, or is 40 minutes a week really too short to bother setting up a game?

Kurald Galain
2010-09-15, 09:10 AM
Why not meet after school? 40 minutes is awfully short, especially since if people show up five minutes late or chat a bit it seriously cuts into your time now.

Glass Mouse
2010-09-15, 09:13 AM
40 minutes is too short. Start a munchkin club instead, or meet after school (as suggested by K. Galain).
Good luck with getting something startet :smallsmile:

valadil
2010-09-15, 09:33 AM
Middle school lunch was where I was first introduced to roleplaying. Obviously it was a worthwhile experience or I wouldn't have continued. We didn't use D&D though, but some weird homebrewed thing that I think the GM made up on the spot involving hobbits and lightsabers.

Snake-Aes
2010-09-15, 10:17 AM
My main recommendation is don't bother with D&D unless everyone can keep a unnaturally fast pace in-combat. Use simpler systems, or no system at all (the Paranoia setting is excellent for that: You did wrong, you are zapped and replaced by one of your 6-pack clones. Sheets are for wusses!)

Qwertystop
2010-09-15, 10:18 AM
Thanks for the advice. How would you advise having people work out their character sheets? All at the same time, or outside of club?

Snake-Aes
2010-09-15, 10:20 AM
Thanks for the advice. How would you advise having people work out their character sheets? All at the same time, or outside of club?

If they all will do it from start, It wouldn't be a bad idea to do that for a couple days and deal with whatever left off-stage

valadil
2010-09-15, 10:20 AM
Thanks for the advice. How would you advise having people work out their character sheets? All at the same time, or outside of club?

First timers should do their sheets with the GM around. Group character creation is fun, but I doubt you'd be able to finish in one lunch. If you're doing 4e, do people have access to the character builder?

bokodasu
2010-09-15, 10:32 AM
We had a gaming group at lunch in high school, but it met daily, so 30 minutes of actual playtime (in a 45-minute lunch period) wasn't unreasonable.

I'd definitely go with the after-school (if you're only meeting once a week) or if you have to do lunchtime, try for meeting more often and playing something simpler, like Fudge or Risus (or apparently Wushu, which someone linked to in another thread and looks totally perfect for this sort of thing, but I've never played it myself).

edit: Oh, and totally do the character creation all together. Between people who aren't familiar with the rules and the people who "just happened" to roll all 18s, it's just better that way.

(In one of the old D&D character generators, you could reroll your stats as much as you liked, but it printed how many times you'd done it at the bottom. I had a player with nothing lower than a 16, and 4 18s - and he had rolled over 3000 times.)

Shenanigans
2010-09-15, 10:43 AM
As has been said, 40 minutes a week is a bit rough, even with a disciplined group (i.e., keeps the chit-chat to a minimum and plans out their actions ahead of time) that would be tough.

Maybe you could use that meeting time for a briefing of sorts, or for non-combat stuff. I could see players using that time to meet with you to work on their character builds, craft items, do in-game research, or even one or two character side activities (e.g. the rogue tries sneaking into an important warehouse at night, the paladin attempts to tame a magical beast for a new mount, taking a prestige class test) This way, you could keep actual sessions more streamlined and party-focused.

Good luck!

Abies
2010-09-15, 01:16 PM
The problem with the suggestion to meet after school is that students are not typically permitted to hang out unattended on school property after the end of the school day. Finding a faculty advisor may be difficult, and might be impossible depending on the school district and teacher's union after school policies. Some district/union agreements require the teacher be paid for any time advising after school programs. The teacher literally can not decline and hang out pro bono. And good luck getting public funding for a RPG club.

Another potential problem is that most schools prohibit cards, dice or any other materials that can possibly be construed as gambling parapanelia.

Before seriously trying to start up any club of this sort, talk to a school official. Not sure what grade level this is, but a guidance councelor is ususally the best point of first contact for middle school or high school students. I'd suggest going to talk to them immediately before or after school.

In all liklihood, you'll probably have to oragnize your meetings outside of school hours (and buildings). And no, 30-40 minutes once a week really is not going to get you all very far.