I'm a librarian at a elementary school (JK-8). Some of the grade 5 and 6s in the gifted class are interested in starting a DnD club in my library during lunch. I will be the supervisor.
Any advice on how to make this the coolest club in the school. I may or not be DMing on a part time basis.
Are you in a red state?
Prepare to have parents bitching at you for introducing their children to the devil.
t. high school teacher who's parents complained about because I had DnD books in my room on my bookshelf.
Been DMing for a about a year so not a lot of experience, next to none with kiddos. Not sure about the amount of time but you could take each lunch hour to explain different parts of the game and how the smaller parts make up a greater campaign. I could link a couple of videos that go into story building etc if you're interested.
in reply to
Buy some funky-looking dice.
Is it after school hours?
I'd say supply snacks if youre allowed, might be a problem if it's in the actual library. Not every day but maybe every second Friday or something for fun. Maybe let them play some atmospheric music or sounds while they Play? Again, might be issue if library rules are super strict lol
Help them get set up, let them have fun, figure out what sort of characters they want to play. They'll get silly but that's OK.
Have you dmed Before? You may want to start them out with pre-made stats and stuff if no one's familiar with creation. You could also provide a map and figures if you're feeling ambitious.
Bumping for other people to contribute, I'm going to be dming for my little sister and cousins next week and am looking for some fun, light hearted ideas they'll enjoy
Buy one of those pounds of dice from chessex
or better yet, bulk dice from a better seller
Music is a must. Make it atmospheric!
Miniatures and playmats would probably be really cool too, especially for young, gifted kids who are nearing adolescence, so they'll probably treat them with respect. All the other D&D shwag would totally help sell that it's a cool club, like the DM screen or a dice tower.
In terms of game play, I'd probably recommend premade characters at first. Straightforward personalities and character goals. Same with adventures, straightforward, simple, and easy.
I'm probably sounding dumb, but most importantly, make sure that you harbor a good social environment for the kids to play the game in. D&D is a very social game, so try to keep their attention, and DM it so each kid can have a moment to shine or help one another out. Even the ones that are shy or awkward, try to maybe help them open up in this wonderful glorified game of pretend with rules.
Also, MUSIC!
Canada
During school hours during Lunch.
Pre-made characters sounds like a good idea. They only have an hour or so, so I don't want them spending all their time on the boring stuff.
Having a simple but engaging plot. I recommend an undead Big Bad or perhaps something goblinoid. Bug bear chief or Goblin Avatar. Use a milestone system for levels, or at least give double exp so that they can actually progress. Oh and don't forget magic items. I remember what it felt like getting my first magic item. To this day it is still my favorite item in all of D&D.
Always make sure there are some adult witnesses, never be alone with a kid. People can be paranoid, and you do NOT want to be suspected as a pedophile.
Boil down the rules all you can. Even start almost free-form and start introducing rules gradually.
Don't as much as explain how the rules work, more like: "ok, roll a dice and see how this turns out".
If they are smart kids they will get how the game works without having to read the manual o bogging down the game.
With as little time as an hour you don't want to spend it reading or explaining rules that maybe don't come up in your game at all.
The ones I recommend are Wizdice, because they're cheap, come in sets of seven (d4,d6,d8,d10,d%,d12, and d20), and you can order them off of amazon for about $20 for a pound, which is enough dice for about 15 people or so.
Some sets are nice, but some are ugly as sin, but if you're not going for a personal set, it's a pretty good deal.
If it's during Lunch, they might be meeting every day. If so, explanations and stuff are fine. That said, definitely introduce rules as they come up, instead of all at once.
So are you just going with 5E, or will you introduce them to any older editions? Maybe some one shot modules just to introduce them. Own of my favorite things to do for 1E or 2E is do Tomb of Horrors backwards. As in the characters start at the end and have to find their way out.
One of the students got a whole heap of 6th edition books for Christmas. They will be using that.
Any content you guys feel I should stay away from? Or the opposite?
Best ways to avoid drama? They are literally classmates. They can't just decide to never see each other again like older players.
To clarify: Content in terms of mature themes. I'm cool with a decent amount of violence and trash talk (there will be absolutely no swearing) but I don't feel comfortable with stuff like prostitutes or explicit gore. Remember its my ass on the line if parents complain.
Prohibit PVP conflict, and remember the rule that dialog skills don't work against PCs.
>One of the students got a whole heap of 6th edition books for Christmas. They will be using that.
I could just be missing something crucial, but there is no DnD sixth edition.
Not to be that guy, but have you considered other games to suggest as well? I mean, let's face it, at that age we all wanted to be Conan and that's fine, but they should't play DND just because it's the most popular system.
I disagree. They should learn to play the most popular game that they have the best chance of finding other people to play with in the future. You don't win friends with GURPS.
>6E
Is? Is that some sort of secret Canadian exclusive? How much poutine do I need to offer the great moose spirit to get it?
You might want to look through the monster manual before using any of them. I doubt they'd publish anything overly explicit in them, but there might be a few with one off lines that could cause some trouble for you.
>6th edition
of what? RQ? or just misprint?
Kid's got a man on the inside
Yeah not 6th edition. Whatever edition the picture in the original post is.
It's just 5th Edition but it comes in bags.
I've been running D&D games for kids in a higher grade than you (mine are aged 13-18) at a friend's public library, but some of it will carry over I feel.
- Whatever you run for them, make it be simple and a one-shot
Seems kind of obvious, but I cannot stress this enough. My kids have trouble focusing on the game when they just have to do simple things (getting gear, marching orders, combat, etc.).
- Get sets of die for them to roll
My friend found a set of simple colored die that are translucent for around 25 USD and she keeps them stored in a little tackle box behind the desk. When the kids show up for the game we pass them out. When they finished the initial program (it was a trial run during the summer) they got to take them home with them.
- let them look at the various classes, but restrict their races and stats to the common ones
We used the standard stat array from 5th edition (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) for character creation, and kept them confined to playing as Human, Elf, Dwarf, or Halfling. The other races are nice, but throwing the book at them right at the start might overwhelm them.
- If they ask any questions, answer it and try to point out where it is in the book they can refer to
My kids ALWAYS forget about their class or racial features, what they have to add together for attack or damage die, and even what spells they have. Be patient with them, and if there's a rules question they have answer them as best you can, if possible, with a section of the book to show them a larger breakdown of the ruling.
- Sessions will be short, prepare for it
I have 2 hours for my group and I struggle to get them through the session I have planned out in time, simply due to the out of game shenanigans. Have it be a very simple thing, maybe limiting it to 1-2 dungeon rooms a club meeting.
- Have fun
When you have fun with it, it will carry over to the kids and get them involved and have fun with it.
Ran Lost Mine of Phandelver (the starter set campaign of 5e) for three 10 year old kids.
Dont be afraid to fudge rolls and bend the rules when they ask to do something creative. Make them feel like the heroes.
I felt so happy when the kids started high fiving eachother after defeating a bugbear by burning down a outpost and dropping it on the bugbear.
That's 5th Edition, or 5e for short
It's sad that creative solutions require dice fudging and rules bending in those systems.
>bulk dice from a better seller
Any recommendations?
I see Wizdice like said on Amazon, there are two comparable orders
15 sets of seven dice for $20
20 sets of seven dice for $30
I think you should teach them D&D and other systems. D&D serves purely as the baseline since you can find a game of it so much more easily. There are simpler, better systems out there. Barbarians of Lemuria might be more fitting since it's so much more rules-light, but people, especially kids, love the cache of the big name RPG.
I liked your joke user.