Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scott Christian" data-source="post: 8643732" data-attributes="member: 6901101">What a fun experience! Good luck!I have run D&D clubs in several schools. Here is what I have learned:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Keep it simple. The kids will pick up stuff quickly, but it seems to help if you start small. The PHB is more than enough.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you are training DMs, have them start DMing by doing a simple dungeon crawl. A basic: The mayor hired you to search these ruins or caves or haunted house. This will limit the RP which doesn't need a lot of rule explanations, and instead focus on learning the rules so that forward momentum can happen in all the games. If possible, get this to the DMs two or three days before.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Make sure they all have dice, character sheets, pencils, etc. Set it up and print ahead of time. If they don't have characters, guide them through as a large group. You will be tempted to help each and every one of them individually. But, doing it as a group will keep a pace. Walk them through the steps just like a lesson. It's okay to let other players that know the game to assist individually. In fact, it's great.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This has worked for me, but might be very individual. I really just sit back, enjoy watching (while grading), and when they have a rules question, I answer. Things are not always smooth. Some kids don't "play fair," some are upset because the girl they like is paying attention to the DM and not them, some purposefully go against everyone else or try to fight people in their party, etc. It's normal. Most groups just figure it out. The ones that don't switch tables. They are kids, and they see things like social structure very differently than adults. I mean, I once had a girl DM come tell me she couldn't DM because she lost her hat and was having a bad hair day. She was in tears. And while, it might have been other issues, after getting to know her, this was a plausible response to not feeling like you can lead five teenage boys on an adventure.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lastly, have fun. Show them your passion and it will spread. You won't need to recount your adventures or explain in great detail your past characters. Just show interest in theirs, even if they are run of the mill tropes or taken directly from a book, movie, anime, etc. The characters are new to them, and that is really fun to watch.</li> </ul>Hope this helps and enjoy!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification