The school D&D Club kicked off today and I was delighted to welcome twelve players to the table, including six new faces. A quick run around the table showed us that we have one current 12-year-old D&D Dungeon Master and mostly newbies with no experience in addition to those who played last year.

Because explaining what a roleplaying game is can only go so far, I decided to launch into some play. I told them they were all a bunch of late teenage American kids who were all heading up to the Old Langley Manor, an abandoned Victorian house that had been derelict for at least twenty years.

I invited them to name their characters, write a short physical description and prioritise four traits: Strong (ST), Fast (DX), Smart (IQ), or Healthy (HT)? From there, we began the game with a description of the scene at night outside the stone wall and main rusted iron gates. Play began with a spirited assault over the wall combined with attempts to break the padlock on the gate.

I’ll not spoil the story that emerged any further (at least for now) but I will say that we had a hoot! All the players got to take some actions and enjoy listening to the suggestions and decisions of the others. We had a silly walk (ably demonstrated by the player) and a lone explorer left alone in an abandoned guard house getting ambushed by… something.

All I did was grab some favourite rules, a map from GURPS Horror, and kept it light and fast-moving. When skills needed testing we asked if the character might be trained in that thing – most of the time the players said no – and we added traits to the improvised character sheets as they became established.

It’s always chaotic to deal with a table of twelve players but somehow we muddled through. I was reminded that I can improvise pretty well around a simple map and situation. I was also reminded how creative and exciting it can be to play with young new gamers.

At the end, they all told me they want to continue the game. I know I can’t wait to see what happens next week.

Game on!