People seem to like it when I talk about the school D&D Club, so here’s a quick update on progress after just three sessions. Big thanks to all the Patrons of RPR who help me to fund free dice for newbies, copies of game rules, and lots of photocopying!

Session 3 saw the group grow to 22 members in three D&D games, two tables of D&D5e run by student DMs and one table of D&D Basic (1983) run by me. The newbies are largely joining my Fellmyr game, which is great because it’s designed for new players.

What has been great is watching some of those naturally quieter and more reserved students, both boys and girls, join the table and find some fun playing D&D. It’s great to see them starting to solve problems and work as a team in battle.

Watching the usually quiet player of Freya, a Level 1 Human Fighter, smash her way through three out of four Skeletons with a Two-handed Sword – describing each kill in a different manner – was a delight! She was learning to brave danger and reap a reward all in the safety of the imagined game world.

The other groups… well, it’s a mixed story. The older students who returned as a group this week are running a D&D5e game of their own design. It’s great to see the books we gave them last year are still being used. But the other group’s DM came to ask, “How do you DM?” today… because he’s finally decided running fights isn’t enough.

My answer… grab the D&D Basic Player’s Rulebook and DM’s Rulebook. Play through the first booklet’s solo scenarios. Make up some characters. Then run the “First Adventure” from the DM’s Booklet. I’ve printed up copies of both Red Box booklets because (as of right now) I don’t know a better learning tool. Again, thanks for funding that printing RPR Patrons!

It’s busy and loud… but it’s awesome to see roleplaying games in the hands of 10-15 year old students, played face-to-face in my classroom once a week for an hour and a half. I am very proud of what we’re building. What’s nice is that other staff are starting to hear the student’s tales from the table too… and comment on how much it enriches young lives.

Game on!