I am considering offering to teach a basics dungeons and dragons class at my local community center and was seeking advice from people who may have done something similar. I want to do this for a few reasons:
1. I want to show this fantastic game to kids and young adults who may have never heard of it, or have and do not have a chance to play.
2. Give kids the opportunity to have a creative or emotional outlet they may not otherwise get.
3. I know DnD can be a great tool getting some kids to either open up more, or learn better social skills.
I didn't always have many people to play with growing up before the good ol internets came around and wish there had been more opportunities in my community. Any suggestions would be fantastic!
I've never done it in a setup like this, but one of my favorite things to do as a DM is introduce new people to the game.
I strongly advise that you follow the KISS method; Keep It Simple Stupid. While the phrase/acronym can be a bit of a trope, it's also great advice. New players of the game typically feel overwhelmed by all the rules, information, mechanics, and choices you have to make just to get a first level character started. Wherever you can, minimize that. People need to understand the fundamentals of their characters but that means "I'm a dwarven warrior." or "I'm a wizard Harry!" and then something simple like "When in danger your dwarf likes to chop down his enemies with his axe!" or "When in danger your wizard will use magics to evade attacks and burn his enemies."
Then get them into a challenge. You can set up three encounters that focus on the three pillars of play (Combat, Exploration, and Roleplay). Don't get too hung up on the question of how to write and adventure for this - all you really need to do is follow the same formula that every episode of Dora the Explorer followed. If you've never seen the show the episodes revolve around a single quest that requires three steps to complete. Something like "We need to cross the trolls bridge, get through the labyrinth forest, and then save the prince(ss) in the Lost Tower." Each step is a challenge. Crossing the bridge might be a roleplay encounter where you tell the players that the trolls look very strong and dangerous, maybe they should talk to him. The labyrinth forest is an easy parallel to exploration challenges (survival, tracking, etc.). Then the last encounter at the tower is a combat to rescue the prince(ss).
Simple characters, clear abilities, and three basic encounters.
That will let you teach the core d20 mechanic (roll dice, add modifier, compare to difficulty class), tell a quick and coherent story, and not overwhelm them with all the crazy details. From there, anyone who wants to do it again/more can be introduced to concepts like creating their own individual characters, the deeper sub-mechanics, etc. Early on the goal is just to get people comfortable with the idea that they can choose what their character does and modify their actions as the consequences play out. The story is their story, and it's alive! :)
This is amazing advise! I thought of running two classes actually The intro, as you described, and maybe running the starter set as a continuation of the first class. Thank you!
I am in the process of doing this. I work for a library and crafted a simple adventure to teach people how to play D&D as well as to how to utilize library resources. The game will involve a scavenger hunt, of sorts, throughout the library as well as battling monsters on a grid.It seems I already have alot of interest (I work for a college library) but the problem I am having involves people with too much experience in D&D wanting to play my game, where it was initially meant to tech new players.
My advice is to advertise it as a beginners group and then when you get players, see what they want to get out of it. I have already made several characters, so that if I get a group of 5, we have a well rounded party. No need for character creation, we can get right into rolling dice and battling monsters. However, I plan on asking if they want to learn character creation, and if so, I will run a session just on that part. Also, ask the community center if they mind if you advertise your campaign by placing a giant poster on their walls. This was key for me, as I put one up and had people asking what it was all about, including some professors who want to learn!
Hello fellow DMs!
I am considering offering to teach a basics dungeons and dragons class at my local community center and was seeking advice from people who may have done something similar. I want to do this for a few reasons:
1. I want to show this fantastic game to kids and young adults who may have never heard of it, or have and do not have a chance to play.
2. Give kids the opportunity to have a creative or emotional outlet they may not otherwise get.
3. I know DnD can be a great tool getting some kids to either open up more, or learn better social skills.
I didn't always have many people to play with growing up before the good ol internets came around and wish there had been more opportunities in my community. Any suggestions would be fantastic!
I've never done it in a setup like this, but one of my favorite things to do as a DM is introduce new people to the game.
I strongly advise that you follow the KISS method; Keep It Simple Stupid. While the phrase/acronym can be a bit of a trope, it's also great advice. New players of the game typically feel overwhelmed by all the rules, information, mechanics, and choices you have to make just to get a first level character started. Wherever you can, minimize that. People need to understand the fundamentals of their characters but that means "I'm a dwarven warrior." or "I'm a wizard Harry!" and then something simple like "When in danger your dwarf likes to chop down his enemies with his axe!" or "When in danger your wizard will use magics to evade attacks and burn his enemies."
Then get them into a challenge. You can set up three encounters that focus on the three pillars of play (Combat, Exploration, and Roleplay). Don't get too hung up on the question of how to write and adventure for this - all you really need to do is follow the same formula that every episode of Dora the Explorer followed. If you've never seen the show the episodes revolve around a single quest that requires three steps to complete. Something like "We need to cross the trolls bridge, get through the labyrinth forest, and then save the prince(ss) in the Lost Tower." Each step is a challenge. Crossing the bridge might be a roleplay encounter where you tell the players that the trolls look very strong and dangerous, maybe they should talk to him. The labyrinth forest is an easy parallel to exploration challenges (survival, tracking, etc.). Then the last encounter at the tower is a combat to rescue the prince(ss).
Simple characters, clear abilities, and three basic encounters.
That will let you teach the core d20 mechanic (roll dice, add modifier, compare to difficulty class), tell a quick and coherent story, and not overwhelm them with all the crazy details. From there, anyone who wants to do it again/more can be introduced to concepts like creating their own individual characters, the deeper sub-mechanics, etc. Early on the goal is just to get people comfortable with the idea that they can choose what their character does and modify their actions as the consequences play out. The story is their story, and it's alive! :)
This is amazing advise! I thought of running two classes actually The intro, as you described, and maybe running the starter set as a continuation of the first class. Thank you!
I am in the process of doing this. I work for a library and crafted a simple adventure to teach people how to play D&D as well as to how to utilize library resources. The game will involve a scavenger hunt, of sorts, throughout the library as well as battling monsters on a grid.It seems I already have alot of interest (I work for a college library) but the problem I am having involves people with too much experience in D&D wanting to play my game, where it was initially meant to tech new players.
My advice is to advertise it as a beginners group and then when you get players, see what they want to get out of it. I have already made several characters, so that if I get a group of 5, we have a well rounded party. No need for character creation, we can get right into rolling dice and battling monsters. However, I plan on asking if they want to learn character creation, and if so, I will run a session just on that part. Also, ask the community center if they mind if you advertise your campaign by placing a giant poster on their walls. This was key for me, as I put one up and had people asking what it was all about, including some professors who want to learn!
Good luck!
"Shadow Hide You..."