You Must Fight! For Your Right!

[Thunderfoot]

TMS - one thing that is usually required by most school clubs is an academic sponsor. Do you have a teacher who is willing to sponsor/supervise your group? If not, I would suggest finding the "cool/weird" art/history/English Lit teacher who was into D&D when they were in HS (or might still be gaming) to be your champion.

If you have no sponsor, your chances are admittedly slim - I couldn't imagine allowing an unsupervised group to meet in my facility due to insurance and safety claims alone - not counting possible theft/vandalism issues. I'm not saying that these are hallmarks or your group, probably far from it, but from an administrators standpoint you have to think of these things.

Another thing I would do is get an administrator (preferably and English Lit or Speech) to help you re-word your proposal. It is solid and covers all of the bases you want covered, but as a proposal, it is frankly, a little weak.

Please don't get me wrong, I whole-heartedly support your plans, I have seen them work and I think they have a positive influnece on both the members and the hobby as a whole. Don't be discouraged by this set-back (that's all it is). But I caution you to stay away from the militant standpoint (petitions are usually the first step to organized protests, etc.)

Remember that regardless, the administration's final word is law, even if it isn't what you want to hear; you may not like it, but abide by it. I grew up in the midwest (Southern Illinois - check the map to see how many gamers are on our map in that area) and in the 80s the whole "Satan/D&D" thing was pretty harsh, growing up in the BUCKLE of the Bible belt. Your administration may still be holding on to those old prejudices. We used to play during lunch (our time) and they tried to stop us then, but they couldn't because we weren't breaking any rules. They even tried the gambling angle because of the dice. We were always under heavy scrutiney, so we were always on our best behavior - I would suggest you do likewise.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

Hope you don't mind but part of my job is writing proposals for business development. Whilst that's not quite the same as this I thought I'd have a go at rewording your proposal (whilst trying to keep true to your thoughts) in a way that might go down better. I'll stress I'm not in education and if there are any teachers around here that propose anything I would definitely take their word for it over mine (especially if they're US based - my assumption that you are given your use of the word principal). Also there are a few things you need to add to this as you will see (names, places, etc.). That said here goes:



Proposal for Development of a Games Club

Summary

The development of a safe and secure environment in which people inclined to play games, primarily role-playing games, but potentially also board and collectible card games, have a chaperoned location in which to gather and engage in their hobbies.

Introduction
We are Corey Gross, Ben Fisher, and Paul Karavaev. One of our main interests is playing a range of different games, primarily fantasy role-playing. A major challenge in our hobby is finding a game – i.e. finding other people in our area who enjoy the same sort of games as us. The different are often unaware of each other. Even when players have identified their similar interest it is often difficult to get gamers together. To solve this we would like to propose the establishment of a Gaming club to provide a safe and secure environment in which gamers can:

1. Get together in a suitable and chaperoned location to play a range of different types of games including board games, collectible card games and role-playing games
2. Exhibit what is involved in a gaming group to new-comers that may be interested in learning about these games and alleviate some of the negative stereotypes associated with these hobbies.

We (Corey, Ben, and Paul) would lead and direct the group. Each of us can set-up and run games independently, or participate in games together with other members. We have all played in our own games and have a good knowledge of the rules of a variety of different games. We are confident of our ability to help new-comers to come to understand the rules and themes of role-playing games.

The club would work in small groups of about 3-6 players (possibly more). Sponsors would be present to ensure the participants (including us) do not hurt each other, destroy property, abuse substances in school, or otherwise break school rules. Their involvement in games, knowledge of rules, etc. would not be required – though would be an option if they were interested in participating. At this time we have X people who have agreed to sponsor the club if permission is granted – these are listed below.

Benefits of the club:
Role-playing games have been much maligned by various parts of the tabloid press over the years, and many of the benefits of role-playing are sadly misunderstood. Role-playing games involve imaginative exercises in developing characters and coming together in a collaborative effort to create a story about those characters. This promotes creative writing skills, dramatization and social interaction.

The systems of these games involve the use of dice to introduce an element of chance to the game, with a variety of modifiers and probabilities coming into play due to the circumstances of any particular event in a game. This promotes mental arithmetic.

Another benefit of the club would be to the ability to have guests come in and provide extra advice and insight into aspects of the game. We know of two men (name them) who have agreed to be our sponsors (make sure they’ve agreed first). They have been playing various role-playing for X years and lead normal lives (Tom is a scientist at Institute X, Harry runs the hobby store Playin’ Games). They could on occasion attend games to help us develop our gaming skills and introduce new ways to run games or new techniques for bringing more life to a story.

However, due to an inability to consistently appear at meetings and gaming sessions, we have also persuaded some of our parents to take part in these events. The full list of sponsors is given below. If permission is granted we will undertake to arrange a schedule of sponsors who will cover each of the meetings & sessions.

1. List the names of
2. the two men
3. and any parents
4. you know would
5. be willing
6. Get their
7. permission first!
8. Include phone
9. numbers where possible

Meetings & Sessions

The gaming club would involve two different types of events – Meetings & Sessions.

Meetings would occur on Thursdays (when - during lunch/after classes/etc.). Meeting in a classroom, we would agree on gaming groups, prepare characters and discuss the next upcoming session. This enables whoever is running the game to fully prepare for the session knowing who the characters are and what they intend to do. It will also provide a convenient time and place for us to provide an introduction to new comers. Not everyone is required to show up at a meeting, but they are required to appear at a session. We would like to suggest that room X is a suitable location for this. (pick a room with suitable desks but NOTHING of significant value to the school – particularly not science labs)

Sessions would occur on one day of the weekend – preferably Saturday (again when – 10 till 2?). These would be where the game actually occurs. The players speak as if they were their characters, participate in a story line, and everyone socializes. It’s festive and we enjoy ourselves. Any refreshments would be supplied by individual participants. At the end of a session the room will be cleaned up and the room returned to it’s initial condition. We anticipate the only changes we would make would be moving a few desks together to bring groups together.

Conclusion
A Fantasy Role-playing Club is a social club. Participation improves the morale of a student and keeps them busy. Our environment is friendly, secure, and progressive. We already know that there are students who would join a club such as this. We realize what an undertaking this club would be, and the responsibility we would hold.

While a social club, however, a Fantasy Role-playing Club is enriching. My personal experience shows that there are friendships and good times to be had around a gaming table. D&D exercises the imagination and allows a player to be involved in a surreal reality. The sheer fun provided by the game deserves to be enjoyed by anyone who would potentially participate in this club.

 

[dougmander]

I have to agree with the poster who suggested finding a faculty sponsor. For what it's worth, I'm a high school teacher who has been running a D&D club for about three years with the full support of the administration. I suggest you politely ask your principal to explain why he or she allows ping pong and badminton but not RPGs. Maybe a phone call from your parents to the principal might change his or her mind.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Does your school have a chess club? How about a drama club? Many schools do ... and when they do, it's hard to turn down and RPG club when you can sell it as a chess club with a little drama and math thrown in.

 

[diaglo]

like others have said. you will most likely need a sponsor. a teacher, guidance counselor, or other adult.

if someone gets hurt... falls down off a chair... then the school has to protect its behind.

all afterschool activities usually fall under this little stipulation

 

[beepeearr]

I think your first step is really examining the rules and policies your school uses for clubs, and try to get a list of all official clubs. Work with the system, not against it. Don't just let it drop though, if the school has any similiar "unacademic" clubs, which from the sounds of it they do, then you guys should be able to form one too, as long as you meet all of the schools current guide lines for school clubs (most do require a faculty sponsor though).

 

[davidschwartznz]

Here's an example of a educational program that uses roleplaying games. Their web site talks about the benefits of rpgs.

http://www.roleplay-workshop.com/