Hi there. I've been playing DND for about a year now and have been primarily DMing it for 80% of that time. I've been tasked with DMing DND adventures weekly at my local community center. This will be geared towards ages 12-25. The community center specializes in being a safe place for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, etc. I've been brainstorming ideas a LOT and have been scouring the internet for articles on DND Clubs at middle schools and the like, but I'd love to get feedback from you guys.
What comments and/or advice do you have for the following concerns and ideas? Do you have any other ideas I could consider?
Letting it be an enjoyable experience for all skill levels
Letting participants explore their own identities via their character(s) by asking them to introduce their characters' names and preferred pronouns (standard practice at the community center)
Episodic system, like the appendix on Shared Adventures from Xanathar's Guide to Everything
How to fairly and fun-ly incorporate all players if there's only one DM and a lot of players (e.g. 7+)
In addition to the standard community center rules, have a short code of conduct we read at the beginning of each meeting (like how they do at 12 step meetings) specific to this activity
Run an Acquisitions Incorporated style campaign, where each episode/session is a different job and all the players' characters are interns at the local franchise.
Have each player's first character be an apprentice/villager at the first session, meaning the character has a name, race, and stats, but no class yet. This would help new and inexperienced players get used to the idea of how DND works and who their character is before trying to commit to a certain class. Characters would start to gain 'on-the-job experience' toward different classes of their choosing while interning at Acq Inc.
Require first time or very inexperienced players to use the races and classes from the Basic Rules (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfing; Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard) and allow more experienced players to choose from other options.
To help first time players start out, instead of using a standard character sheet, create a unique 'Internship Application,' with relevant information like character name, race, previous work experience (background and/or class), and some other details. We could use this to help new players transfer their ideas of who they want their character to be, onto a standard character sheet including ability scores, equipment, etc.
To help encourage certain types of behaviors, use an XP instead of a Milestone system. XP can be given for successfully defeating enemies in combat, negotiating or befriending or strategizing your way out of combat, and for succeeding in non-combat encounters. Extra XP can be given to players who gracefully handle unlucky rolls, both as a reward for keeping a cool lid when facing adversity and because in real life, you tend to learn more from failed attempts than successful attempts. This would also encourage players to go for exciting, interesting, and potentially risky endeavors, as failing would be a 'safe' option for their character! XP could also be used to incentivize other types of good behavior, like a bonus to players who always remembered when it was their turn in combat, or shared their dice, or exhibited other admirable, pro-social, and responsible behaviors.
Thanks to the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and Waterdeep: Dragon Heist's Waterdeep Enchridion, Waterdeep is one simple location with lots of material to offer for all sorts of play styles and adventure styles. Plus, that's the setting I'm most familiar with as a dungeon master. Set our franchise as a junior intern recruitment and training center in Waterdeep, under the supervision of the locally-based Head Office.
One thing to be prepared for that's usually not an issue for private games but will come up at public, weekly game is what you do when players don't show. You'll need a community-sourced plan for this. Some players will be angered when their party is in the middle of an adventure and one or more players (whose characters are on the adventure) don't show up.
Also, you said:
Require first time or very inexperienced players to use the races and classes from the Basic Rules (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfing; Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard) and allow more experienced players to choose from other options.
I would hesitate about this. For a public group, I'd be more inclined to require everyone to use the Basic Rules. It's free, it's fair, and you can run fun games using the basic races and classes.
This sounds great, KidPenguin. You might want to bring a few snacks in case of the hungries. I know that learning a lot of new stuff makes me want to eat carbs to give my brain some food. Also, you might want to prepare some pop cultural references for each of the classes you are permitting to be played to better help people have a mental picture of how each is distinct.
Hope you have a great first day. Break a leg out there.
For your first point about not knowing who will be there or not each week, that's why I'm thinking an episodic/series of one shots format. As in each adventure starts and finishes in that one session. This is one of the reasons I like the idea of an Acq Inc set up with each session being a different job.
For your second point. I keep going back and forth on this idea. Either way, players get to enjoy creating their own unique persona. This is absolutely perfect for that goal of helping participants explore different senses of identity. Restricting at least new players to a few options keeps them from being overwhelmed. That's good. Period. But the point you bring up credits equal treatment across skill levels, no pressure to purchase anything, and it still works 100% perfectly. Restricting all players to these options would definitely not be a bad idea!
I'm thinking that it would be good to 'reward' experienced players, however, with permission to have a wider variety of character options. I'll already be recommending players use DNDBeyond for its high quality character sheet system, and for players who consistently come and would like to explore other character options, I'd invite them to a campaign with content sharing enabled. I have the PHB, DMG, XGtE, SCAG, Acq Inc, and a few other source book and adventure modules purchased on there. This would remove the concern about price, as it would incur no additional cost to them or myself.
Thank you again for your feedback, I really appreciate it!
Did you consider rewarding the experienced players with the ability to dm one shots themselves? If you have people who can and do show consistently, that might be a better reward than offering them advantages over the newbies.
I only suggest this because I've dm'd groups of 4 or 5 and 7+ and the workload on a 7+ group is taxing to say the least. Balancing the play so everyone is involved is a lot of work, but you probably already know that.
I guess it depends on the people you end up playing with, but it sounds like an awesome idea. Good luck
Hi there. I've been playing DND for about a year now and have been primarily DMing it for 80% of that time. I've been tasked with DMing DND adventures weekly at my local community center. This will be geared towards ages 12-25. The community center specializes in being a safe place for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, etc. I've been brainstorming ideas a LOT and have been scouring the internet for articles on DND Clubs at middle schools and the like, but I'd love to get feedback from you guys.
What comments and/or advice do you have for the following concerns and ideas? Do you have any other ideas I could consider?
Looks like you have it well thought-out so far.
One thing to be prepared for that's usually not an issue for private games but will come up at public, weekly game is what you do when players don't show. You'll need a community-sourced plan for this. Some players will be angered when their party is in the middle of an adventure and one or more players (whose characters are on the adventure) don't show up.
Also, you said:
I would hesitate about this. For a public group, I'd be more inclined to require everyone to use the Basic Rules. It's free, it's fair, and you can run fun games using the basic races and classes.
Good luck.
Recently returned to D&D after 20+ years.
Unapologetic.
This sounds great, KidPenguin. You might want to bring a few snacks in case of the hungries. I know that learning a lot of new stuff makes me want to eat carbs to give my brain some food. Also, you might want to prepare some pop cultural references for each of the classes you are permitting to be played to better help people have a mental picture of how each is distinct.
Hope you have a great first day. Break a leg out there.
Thanks for that feedback, dmjonesie!
For your first point about not knowing who will be there or not each week, that's why I'm thinking an episodic/series of one shots format. As in each adventure starts and finishes in that one session. This is one of the reasons I like the idea of an Acq Inc set up with each session being a different job.
For your second point. I keep going back and forth on this idea. Either way, players get to enjoy creating their own unique persona. This is absolutely perfect for that goal of helping participants explore different senses of identity. Restricting at least new players to a few options keeps them from being overwhelmed. That's good. Period. But the point you bring up credits equal treatment across skill levels, no pressure to purchase anything, and it still works 100% perfectly. Restricting all players to these options would definitely not be a bad idea!
I'm thinking that it would be good to 'reward' experienced players, however, with permission to have a wider variety of character options. I'll already be recommending players use DNDBeyond for its high quality character sheet system, and for players who consistently come and would like to explore other character options, I'd invite them to a campaign with content sharing enabled. I have the PHB, DMG, XGtE, SCAG, Acq Inc, and a few other source book and adventure modules purchased on there. This would remove the concern about price, as it would incur no additional cost to them or myself.
Thank you again for your feedback, I really appreciate it!
Did you consider rewarding the experienced players with the ability to dm one shots themselves? If you have people who can and do show consistently, that might be a better reward than offering them advantages over the newbies.
I only suggest this because I've dm'd groups of 4 or 5 and 7+ and the workload on a 7+ group is taxing to say the least. Balancing the play so everyone is involved is a lot of work, but you probably already know that.
I guess it depends on the people you end up playing with, but it sounds like an awesome idea. Good luck
As someone interested in starting something similar, I’m curious how this turned out for you