DnD Club

[Ardantis]

So, I'm the new teacher at a combined (K-12) school in a small town, and some of the middle and high school students found out that I play or have played DnD and Magic. They've approached me about starting a game club, which I'm open to.

The thing about it is I have no idea how a DnD Club would work, logistics-wise. How do you get an after school club to meet long enough to run a quality game? Should I run premade, or should I make up my own stuff to be suitable? I'd love to just buy the starter set, but I don't know if Lost Mines of Phandelver would work for a group with time/experience limitations like this.

I'm going to hold an info session next week to gauge interest. I could really use some advice, if any of you have experience running/being a part of a school group which played DnD.

[Sigreid]

Edited because of bad typing:

I tried the D&D club at my school when I was in junior high. It didn't work very well. The biggest issue we had was there were simply too many players for the DM to deal with. My recommendation is that you take stalk of the number of people who are interested and find volunteers to DM so you can keep groups to a more standard 4-6 players. Otherwise nobody really gets to play in the end.

[Temperjoke]

First, you should look at it from a school club perspective, not a D&D club perspective. Your information gathering meeting can help with this, but you need to figure out certain things first. You'll need to figure out the age range of the people interested in participating, and what support from the school you're actually going to have for this. You'll need to figure out what games the kids are going to want to play, maybe some of them are interested in D&D primarily, maybe some of them are interested in other games like MtG. You'll need to figure out how much time you'll have available to you for the club, an hour a week isn't enough for a full D&D session, and the game would be unmanagable if you have a lot of participants. Instead of playing games, you may also want to look at it from an educational perspective, like teaching them how to build their own games or GM games.

[Ardantis]

Here's what I know so far:

1) I know for sure there are at least 5 students who are interested. An interest meeting would show me exactly how many.

2) All of these students are also interested in MtG, meaning that I could limit players to 4 or 5 in DnD and students would still have a reason to come to game club.

3) I have considered a monthly club, which would meet less often but for longer periods of time. This would make DnD much more possible to run.

As far as letting kids GM, that's a great idea, especially from an educational standpoint, but I believe that only one of my students has actually played before, so we might need to work up to that.

Thoughts/opinions?

I'm also thinking that the starter set is a good place to start. Anyone disagree?

[DracoKnight]

I'm also thinking that the starter set is a good place to start. Anyone disagree?

Obviously the only option is to introduce them to D&D via Tyranny of Dragons.

[Ardantis]

Obviously the only option is to introduce them to D&D via Tyranny of Dragons.

I meant as opposed to simpler, homemade content. You got me, though.

[Ninja_Prawn]

By longer sessions once per month, I assume you mean after school... in which case, why do they need it to be at school with a teacher? Wouldn't it be better for them to play with each other at home?

But a lunchtime club is definitely difficult, because you've got such a short window and by the time everything's set up, you've probably only got half an hour. Maybe you could design a game where the PCs are gladiators in an arena and every week they take on one big fight? That might give them enough experience to go play a more involved campaign in their own time. I've not played Magic, but that's probably a lot more manageable as the club's 'stock' activity.

Likewise, you could get handheld gaming involved, if kids these days are still into that. I played a lot of games over shaky link cables when I was in school, so that could be interesting. Maybe as a one-off tournament of something?

[Temperjoke]

The starter set might be a good place to start, but the advantage of homebrewing a campaign means you can change it on the fly depending on how things go. Like, you have a couple people who have schedule conflicts, or if they suddenly buck the system and go off in a tangent you didn't expect.

You know, it may also be a case where they want to have a club, but they need someone to supervise so they can be allowed to use school resources (like rooms) to play, so they don't actually expect you to do much other than be there and maybe help them with ideas or with rules.

EDIT: For that matter, homebrewing a campaign with them can be a great way to show them how to apply stuff from school, such as writing, math, and art.

[MinotaurWarrior]

I think you want a very structured, dungeon-crawly game. It's the mechanics that probably have the most educational value (I know caring about these games helped solidify everything from averages to integrals in my head), and it's probably the easiest way to have something cool happen each session, if each session is just something like a lunch period.

I would cap the group at 4-5, with the presence of a 6th person forcing two guys to go off to play MtG, or something like that. In character, maybe they're invading the tomb of a slumbering evil that can feel the presence of good, and would be awakened if too many were present in it's lair at once.

I'd recommend doing something like having timed turns.

[Anonymouswizard]

I do suggest trying for a less often but longer club is ideal. You might have to get parent's permission if it's too long/kids are young enough, but this is where my second suggestion comes in if you live in an area that still has the D&D=witchcraft mindset.

Don't make it a D&D club. Don't make it a Magic the Gathering club. Use one of the following descriptions:
-Tabletop Games club: all encompassing, but people might not understand it.
-Board and Card Games club: most people can't tell that D&D isn't a board game (I've previously been told that all tabletop gaming is D&D by society execs who only wanted to appear to support tabletop games, this year's set is thankfully more openminded). It also says stuff like 'you want to play magic, come here. You want to play D&D, come here. You want to play Carcassone, come here'/

[ChelseaNH]

My group is more social, so we wind up playing less than our allotted 3 hours a session, and we still make decent progress. The main problem is keeping track of all the story threads; a monthly game would make this harder if you were running a campaign instead of encounters. We take turns keeping a log of our sessions, so that's something that an extra person could help out with if you didn't want to disrupt the game. You could also let someone roll for the opposition as a way of participating without playing.

If you don't want a campaign, you could still use the encounters in the starter set without going through all the story, as a way of getting started. Over time, you can get an idea of what hooks your players -- the math, the storytelling, the world building -- and find ways to explore those interests.

[1Forge]

So, I'm the new teacher at a combined (K-12) school in a small town, and some of the middle and high school students found out that I play or have played DnD and Magic. They've approached me about starting a game club, which I'm open to.

The thing about it is I have no idea how a DnD Club would work, logistics-wise. How do you get an after school club to meet long enough to run a quality game? Should I run premade, or should I make up my own stuff to be suitable? I'd love to just buy the starter set, but I don't know if Lost Mines of Phandelver would work for a group with time/experience limitations like this.

I'm going to hold an info session next week to gauge interest. I could really use some advice, if any of you have experience running/being a part of a school group which played DnD.

I actually run dnd at my schools local strategy & games store. We meet every Friday to play where I DM a 5th edition homebrewed campaign. I find it fun but you need to be carefull of to many players. I make a list of people who can play dnd at one time (we tried one game with 15 people it was a disaster) i usually limit it to 8 or below. For everyone else im appointing a second DM and someone else runs magic tournaments.

[Ardantis]

I'm a first-year teacher, so I don't have much free time- I may have to go once a month for professional reasons. I need to determine how late we are allowed to stay after school to see if longer sessions are possible.

I may just crib the encounters from the starter set- I don't assume these kids have their own dice, and pregen characters would probably be better.

We are in a small, isolated town in the North Country of New York, so there's nothing for students to do in the winter when it's not tourist season. School clubs are a way to encourage them to interact, and to introduce them to new things.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm sure this brings up memories of childhood gaming for some, and I appreciate you all paying it forward in helping me with my students.

[tieren]

Your kids may not have dice but I bet they have phones. There are free die roller apps that can eliminate the need for physical dice and speed up some of the calculation.

If you get 8 or more participants. I would definitely have 2 or 3 kids DM and you can float as an ultimate arbiter.

You can meet with the DMs at a different date or time from the rest to help them prepare then on a different date with everyone for actual play.

[Sigreid]

I'm a first-year teacher, so I don't have much free time- I may have to go once a month for professional reasons. I need to determine how late we are allowed to stay after school to see if longer sessions are possible.

I may just crib the encounters from the starter set- I don't assume these kids have their own dice, and pregen characters would probably be better.

We are in a small, isolated town in the North Country of New York, so there's nothing for students to do in the winter when it's not tourist season. School clubs are a way to encourage them to interact, and to introduce them to new things.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm sure this brings up memories of childhood gaming for some, and I appreciate you all paying it forward in helping me with my students.

I appreciate you're becoming the kind of teacher that would even consider this for the kids. Kudos.

[coredump]

Check out the WotC DnD podcast. They have had a number of episodes about kids and DnD, including school clubs.

[DracoKnight]

I meant as opposed to simpler, homemade content. You got me, though.

On a more serious note, Tyranny of Dragons was my intro to D&D, and while both challenging and frustrating at times it engaged and enhanced my critical thinking and forced me to think about my personal morals. This actually might not be a bad one to start them on. You could make it a "learning experience" without letting them know that you're doing it. Moral discussions have the ability to pop up just about anywhere. Particularly when the Lawful Good character is being played by someone who's spent too much time playing a murderhobo in some other game. *AHEM*SKYRIM*COUGH, COUGH*

[Freelance GM]

So, I'm the new teacher at a combined (K-12) school in a small town, and some of the middle and high school students found out that I play or have played DnD and Magic. They've approached me about starting a game club, which I'm open to.

The thing about it is I have no idea how a DnD Club would work, logistics-wise. How do you get an after school club to meet long enough to run a quality game? Should I run premade, or should I make up my own stuff to be suitable? I'd love to just buy the starter set, but I don't know if Lost Mines of Phandelver would work for a group with time/experience limitations like this.

I'm going to hold an info session next week to gauge interest. I could really use some advice, if any of you have experience running/being a part of a school group which played DnD.

I got into D&D just over 6 years ago because of a teacher like you doing something like this. Now I'm studying game design and DM'ing weekly for my FLGS. Definitely try it!

In our case, Magic was a much more successful thing, because you could do games in the mornings before classes start, during lunch, as well as after school. However, if you made your own short D&D adventures (like, 5-room-dungeons, for example), you could probably condense a quality game into a nice, manageable 1-2 hour session.

After getting into D&D (and discovering that I preferred DMing over playing) I'd start DM'ing my own games during my 50-minute lunch period. It really forces you to have a good sense of pacing, but I still managed to run a fun campaign.

I've been doing Lost Mine of Phandelver for D&D: Adventurer's League. With three-hour sessions, it took 8 weeks to run. Even then, the players skipped out on two of the side-quests, and bypassed most of the dungeons. (One player had a supernatural sense for finding the quickest route to the boss room.) So, I'd estimate that with 1 or 2-hour sessions, you'd probably be able to make the adventure last the whole semester.

[HEEGZ]

First post! (and it's a doozy...)

I just migrated here from the WOTC forums and stumbled across this post. I am a high school teacher and started DMing a group of students last year when 5e launched. I'll go ahead and explain what I've done and learned in a rambling fashion.

First, I was approached by interested high school students. After numbers reached 8 or 9 I approached my high school principal. I asked to start a "Gaming Club" to which he replied "As long as it's not D&D!" Haha. So, I explained that I wouldn't DM anything involving demon sex or other things that [grand]parents of the 80s fear most, and would try to run things very much like Lord of the Rings (elves, dwarves, hobbits, wizards, dragons, etc). He relented and allowed me to form the Gaming Club as an official school club. Official permission also gives me access to downloading the Expedition adventures at school and printing out things, such as character sheets and so on. Very handy and vital to keeping the club running.

So, you should pretty much clear anything at school with your principal and make sure that you can meet at school. You could go another route outside of school, but it sounds like you are pretty busy. If you go that route, I'd definitely suggest trying to team up with a FLGS to get started. I am pretty much on my own, but I have lots of experience chairing organizations and things, and had no trouble starting up my own public gaming club. This is a requirement for joining the D&D Expeditions, which I will elaborate on later.

I highly suggest starting off with the Starter Set adventure. It's excellent and great for introducing new D&D players to the game. Also, you can use the premade characters, and then let the players make their own after you finish the Starter Set. Alternatively, you can get access to the D&D Expeditions as a public gaming club. These are short adventures that cater to public gaming groups, and is now in it's third season. Here is where the info is found:

http://dndadventurersleague.org/get-involved/


If you are involved with a public gaming club such as a school club, a library club, military base, or any other public club, there are two ways to get involved with the D&D Adventurers League.

First, you can run any of the published adventures as official D&D Adventurers League adventures. Run the games just like you would a home game in the League. This option requires very little work as you just purchase the adventures and run them according to the League’s rules

“If you’d like to run D&D Expeditions, your club can be sponsored by a gaming store as long as the games you run are open to the public and are in a public venue. (In the case of schools and military units, the games must be open to everyone at the school or military unit and must be run in a space that is open to everyone there, such as a lounge or cafeteria). You just need to contact a store and if they’re willing to sponsor you, they can schedule games for you and order you the adventures, magic item certificates, and kits (where available). The kits will be sent to the store so you’ll have to pick them up from the store or the store can mail them to you. The store can also designate a member of your club as a store organizer (aka tournament organizer), and you can organize your own games.

Lastly, if you don’t have a store that can sponsor you, you can contact customer support by filling out this support form (http://wizards.custhelp.com/app/ask/p/1669,1673,1986). Be sure to select D&D Convention Support under the products drop-down as well as all other pertinent information. Once sent off, you may qualify to receive a Convention Support Package (D&D Expeditions adventures). You will not receive magic item certificates.. All materials in the support package are delivered digitally, and are not for distribution outside of event use.

Okay, so I recommend starting an official club with administrator approval, and then joining the D&D Expeditions. You can get access to new .pdf adventures and be an official WOTC public gaming group. I am really glad I went this route and wouldn't go another way if I started over.

I started off with the maximum of 8 players. It was way too many and I will never do this again. I ended up playing once a week for a few hours after school and we just got bogged down and the starter set adventure took forever. So, I switched things up. I split our group and added new players, and ran two different groups, same adventure, of five players each. This was better, and I DM'd one group on Tuesday and the other on Thursday, after school. The only rule to join was that players had to arrange a ride home. They either gave each other a ride, got a parent to pick them up, or walked home. I had the added responsibility of walking the entire group outside of the building and waiting with them until they got picked up.

So... Long story short, the whole thing worked great until baseball and track season started in the spring, and all but 2 players had to quit playing after school. There was a bit of bullying other players and some disciplinary things that cropped up in our last month. Those players are no longer allowed to play with the group, and didn't fight it. I also am only DMing one group this year, and only 4 players now. I could increase it to 5, but that is probably the maximum I can handle. Some DM's can handle many more players, but not myself. It just becomes not fun for me past 4-5 players. So, now I am DMing the new group of four through the Princes of the Apocalypse, and we will play until baseball/track season in the spring again.

One of the main benefits of the first season last year, was that one of the boys developed a strong desire to DM, and I helped him acquire the three core books. So he actually DMs the players who no longer play with me outside of our school gaming club. He DM'd them over the summer break, and also taught another guy how to DM. I'm currently trying to talk DM #2 into picking up the core books instead of using the pirated .pdfs he found... So, there are two additional DMs sprung up out of nothing a year ago, and D&D being played in our small rural town when there was nothing but Magic games before that.

For ages, I find that 15 and under are very young and immature for a gaming club. I had quite a few discipline issues crop up at the end of the season partially due to this. Having 16 year olds and up has helped solve the maturity issue and they also mostly have cars and rides, so that has really solved that issue. I have also had to tell people they can't play, because we have a school rule about extracurricular activities if you are failing a class. So there is somewhat of an incentive for them to bring their grades up. You can try running younger kids than 16, but I wouldn't bother myself, personally, unless they are just really mature for their age.

Regarding dice... I probably spent $100 easy on dice last year. I have about 10 assorted color/design d20 that I use for inspiration awards. I also have about 10+ dice sets in all colors that I lend out. I encourage my kids to buy a set off me, or from our FLGS, or from the internet, and now most of them have. Plus, I use a LOT of dice when I DM. If I run 7 enemies, I'm rolling 7d20 at a time, and then simultaneous damage on the next roll. Really speeds things up, and well I guess I really love dice lol. I'm now using 5 sets of the same dice color, and will probably pick up a sixth set, which I think will be enough for me.

Gaming table... I use big, big desks, as I'm a science teacher, and I have the best tables in the world for gaming on. I also have 16 chromebooks which can be used by my players, and I project all of my maps and things onto a giant 8 foot promethean/smart board. So I'm loaded with technology. I have found that 1 DMG and 1 MM is enough for me, and I ended up buying a second PHB, and one of my players brings a third PHB. Really, have as many PHB as you can afford or talk people into buying for themselves. This is one of the single biggest slow downs at the table besides not planning ahead or socializing too much...

I also use the Pathfinder Flip Mats. I find the basic one that is tan and stone colored works the best, and I own at least 9 maps I think. The chessex battlemats are just not that convenient due to using only wet erase, but I have used it for a few months and lots of people like them. For minis I use a mix of minis from the D&D board games, plus pathfinder pawns, plus the D&D 4e tokens. I try to keep my pawns at home due to weight reasons, and mostly just use tokens for everything else, and plastic minis for the PCs. I bought the 5e DM screen and love it alot. I also put a flip mat behind my DM screen and keep my dice on it and track all NPC/creature stats on the mat behind the screen.

Okay so... that was waaaaaay longer than I thought it would be. Epic first post, um, sorry about that. Feel free to ask me questions and I'll be happy to help. Might take me a bit to remember to check this forum as I wean myself off of the WOTC forums, but I've got it bookmarked now. Cheers!

HEEGZ