I am a teacher in a high school. I am starting a club with about 9 students and was wanting some helpful advice on things to think about and prepare for. I have played a few years but always with adults. I am unsure of any road bumps or issues I might run into as the club advisor. Also unfortunately we don't have a budget for the club so we wont be able to purchase anything until we have done some fund raising. So what are good alternatives / cheap things we can do to make the club still function (in terms of dice, monsters, maps, etc.)
Hi. First thing you want to do is apply for the Educators Kit. If you’re not in North America you can’t get the physical books but digital copies of the rule books, a couple of short campaigns and the excellent collection of one shots in Candlekeep Mysteries will help a lot. After that you need to figure out if you’re going to DM all 9 kids, get a second DM so you can have two smaller groups or let them DM themselves. At the kids club I run we’ve got adult DMs while the kids play and DM occasional one shots but there’s a good argument for letting them run wild while you supervise, especially if you’re on your own, nine is a big group if you try to run it as a single party and from personal experience it’s too many whilst also trying to teach the rules and quite players can get pushed aside.
As for functioning as a club on a budget even if you don’t get the educators kit there’s a lot you can do for free. Theatre of the mind costs nothing, there’s plenty of free campaigns and one shots out there (there’s a whole thread on these forums of freebies) and you can either use dice roller apps, the dice roller on DDB or Amazon sell some very cheap dice if you wanted physical. I found it easiest to get all the kids setting up characters on D&D Beyond and without spending anything you can still all access the free rules and the character builder will offer all 12 main classes and one subclass for each which will be plenty to start with until you can raise some funds.
Oh and make sure you’re having fun too, it’s your club as much as theirs and your enjoyment will be infectious. Good luck
Our local library has all the books in hard copy (you do have to ask for them, they're not out on the stacks) available for lending also.
Dice are cheap, you can buy multiple sets of very serviceable dice on Amazon for like $20 and frankly they're just cool to have around for math lessons for kids around shapes and probability and whatever. I can tell you that if you were a teacher in my community and I knew you wanted dice you'd have them as quick as I could order them.
You can make simple maps in Inkarnate for free and making maps is also a pretty cool educational project. Teach them the lesson that maps are political, that they tell you what is thought to be important by the mapmaker.
A classic mini standin for monsters is candy; whoever kills it gets to eat it. :-)
Your character tokens can be paper cutouts glued to cardboard or really any small item at all, just depends on what projects you want to make for the kids and what feel you want for the game.
My first thought is 9 students is a lot. I’d suggest splitting into two groups. Either you deputize one student and they run one one table while you you run the other. Or you deputize 2 stut, each runs one group and you supervise both. But trying to run 9 players plus a DM is just going to be frustrating for everyone.
High school teacher here. I've done this with a group of 6. That many is manageable, but just barely. As already advised, splitting your group would be a good idea.
For maps, you should already have white boards/chalk boards/smart boards available. They are your canvas and easily changeable. Detail an interested student to map on paper as you go so you have a hard record. Also, take pics of your progress from meeting to meeting.
I've found that high school boys want more combat, girls want more roleplay (generally speaking). They all seem to highly appreciate a surprise twist. Once per meeting should keep them interested.
If you're uncertain of using solely theater of the mind, printing monster and PC pics in 2D is perfectly acceptable for a tabletop.
It may also be worth taking a look through the free claimables listed in this link - There's a range of small adventures and one-shots that'd likely be ideal for short sessions, some of which are specifically aimed for younger and newer players like the Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn adventure or Peril in Pinebrook. Players, young and old, respond to the math of D&D in different ways - If it is within the budget, it may be worth getting a few sets of dice that can be shared amongst the (presumably with your numbers) two tables, and those who prefer it can use digital dice as free phone apps or some of the claimable D&D Beyond dice.
Depending on your available space and what resources the school can provide, If you have access to computers, a decent sized flatscreen monitor can be laid out and detached from its' base to be used as a digital tabletop - Consider a clear plastic layer over the top though to prevent overexuberant rollers or heavier dice from doing any damage! Similarly, low ambient music can be played from said computer, just be aware of stimuli overload for your players and adjust accordingly.
If you have a tech/ IA dept talk to them about 3d printing figurines/tokens etc.while there are plenty of commercial sites you can design and get printed stuff it’s costly. I’m sure there are free patterns for more generic stuff - turn the kids lose to find what they want. Maybe you can get one of the teachers to make finding and printing figurines etc into a class project.
You can divide them based on schedules. (sports, extracurriculars, etc.) Also, in my experience, high-school-age teens usually want to play evil characters for whatever reason.
Sadly yes they do - they are still in the “ little boy” tearing everything down is easy and fun stage. They haven’t yet figured out that the real challenge is actually building something up and maintaining it against the destructive forces.
Sadly yes they do - they are still in the “ little boy” tearing everything down is easy and fun stage. They haven’t yet figured out that the real challenge is actually building something up and maintaining it against the destructive forces.
Luckily at my club we’ve only got one teen like that (and he plays at the table I don’t run) but I know the other DM does get very frustrated with his “this conversation has lasted more than five minutes so I stab the guy” approach to storytelling
Sadly yes they do - they are still in the “ little boy” tearing everything down is easy and fun stage. They haven’t yet figured out that the real challenge is actually building something up and maintaining it against the destructive forces.
There are some interesting opportunities to teach some life lessons around this, truly. I wonder if there are any modules out there that might especially be useful and ready to go with this in mind.
Pretty much any module f presented right but maybe one of the best is Storm kings thunder. The villains are trying to pull down a thousands year old structure for personal gain and the hero’s are trying to save the structure and link it back into the broader world as well.
Thanks! Yeah I think the group wants to do two parties but none of them want to DM. So we talked about rotating one shots so everyone gets some experience and see if anyone likes it enough to run something more. I have asked about the educators kit so hoping that comes through. And good to know about the thread of free stuff. I will look through those and help my groups find something they want to explore.
Hey all,
I am a teacher in a high school. I am starting a club with about 9 students and was wanting some helpful advice on things to think about and prepare for. I have played a few years but always with adults. I am unsure of any road bumps or issues I might run into as the club advisor. Also unfortunately we don't have a budget for the club so we wont be able to purchase anything until we have done some fund raising. So what are good alternatives / cheap things we can do to make the club still function (in terms of dice, monsters, maps, etc.)
Any helpful tips or advice would be great!
Nogama
WotC has Educator Resources you can try to get.
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Hi. First thing you want to do is apply for the Educators Kit. If you’re not in North America you can’t get the physical books but digital copies of the rule books, a couple of short campaigns and the excellent collection of one shots in Candlekeep Mysteries will help a lot. After that you need to figure out if you’re going to DM all 9 kids, get a second DM so you can have two smaller groups or let them DM themselves. At the kids club I run we’ve got adult DMs while the kids play and DM occasional one shots but there’s a good argument for letting them run wild while you supervise, especially if you’re on your own, nine is a big group if you try to run it as a single party and from personal experience it’s too many whilst also trying to teach the rules and quite players can get pushed aside.
As for functioning as a club on a budget even if you don’t get the educators kit there’s a lot you can do for free. Theatre of the mind costs nothing, there’s plenty of free campaigns and one shots out there (there’s a whole thread on these forums of freebies) and you can either use dice roller apps, the dice roller on DDB or Amazon sell some very cheap dice if you wanted physical. I found it easiest to get all the kids setting up characters on D&D Beyond and without spending anything you can still all access the free rules and the character builder will offer all 12 main classes and one subclass for each which will be plenty to start with until you can raise some funds.
Oh and make sure you’re having fun too, it’s your club as much as theirs and your enjoyment will be infectious. Good luck
Our local library has all the books in hard copy (you do have to ask for them, they're not out on the stacks) available for lending also.
Dice are cheap, you can buy multiple sets of very serviceable dice on Amazon for like $20 and frankly they're just cool to have around for math lessons for kids around shapes and probability and whatever. I can tell you that if you were a teacher in my community and I knew you wanted dice you'd have them as quick as I could order them.
You can make simple maps in Inkarnate for free and making maps is also a pretty cool educational project. Teach them the lesson that maps are political, that they tell you what is thought to be important by the mapmaker.
A classic mini standin for monsters is candy; whoever kills it gets to eat it. :-)
Your character tokens can be paper cutouts glued to cardboard or really any small item at all, just depends on what projects you want to make for the kids and what feel you want for the game.
My first thought is 9 students is a lot. I’d suggest splitting into two groups. Either you deputize one student and they run one one table while you you run the other. Or you deputize 2 stut, each runs one group and you supervise both.
But trying to run 9 players plus a DM is just going to be frustrating for everyone.
High school teacher here. I've done this with a group of 6. That many is manageable, but just barely. As already advised, splitting your group would be a good idea.
For maps, you should already have white boards/chalk boards/smart boards available. They are your canvas and easily changeable. Detail an interested student to map on paper as you go so you have a hard record. Also, take pics of your progress from meeting to meeting.
I've found that high school boys want more combat, girls want more roleplay (generally speaking). They all seem to highly appreciate a surprise twist. Once per meeting should keep them interested.
If you're uncertain of using solely theater of the mind, printing monster and PC pics in 2D is perfectly acceptable for a tabletop.
Good luck.
It may also be worth taking a look through the free claimables listed in this link - There's a range of small adventures and one-shots that'd likely be ideal for short sessions, some of which are specifically aimed for younger and newer players like the Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn adventure or Peril in Pinebrook.
Players, young and old, respond to the math of D&D in different ways - If it is within the budget, it may be worth getting a few sets of dice that can be shared amongst the (presumably with your numbers) two tables, and those who prefer it can use digital dice as free phone apps or some of the claimable D&D Beyond dice.
Depending on your available space and what resources the school can provide, If you have access to computers, a decent sized flatscreen monitor can be laid out and detached from its' base to be used as a digital tabletop - Consider a clear plastic layer over the top though to prevent overexuberant rollers or heavier dice from doing any damage!
Similarly, low ambient music can be played from said computer, just be aware of stimuli overload for your players and adjust accordingly.
If you have a tech/ IA dept talk to them about 3d printing figurines/tokens etc.while there are plenty of commercial sites you can design and get printed stuff it’s costly. I’m sure there are free patterns for more generic stuff - turn the kids lose to find what they want. Maybe you can get one of the teachers to make finding and printing figurines etc into a class project.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
You can divide them based on schedules. (sports, extracurriculars, etc.) Also, in my experience, high-school-age teens usually want to play evil characters for whatever reason.
Sadly yes they do - they are still in the “ little boy” tearing everything down is easy and fun stage. They haven’t yet figured out that the real challenge is actually building something up and maintaining it against the destructive forces.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Luckily at my club we’ve only got one teen like that (and he plays at the table I don’t run) but I know the other DM does get very frustrated with his “this conversation has lasted more than five minutes so I stab the guy” approach to storytelling
There are some interesting opportunities to teach some life lessons around this, truly. I wonder if there are any modules out there that might especially be useful and ready to go with this in mind.
Pretty much any module f presented right but maybe one of the best is Storm kings thunder. The villains are trying to pull down a thousands year old structure for personal gain and the hero’s are trying to save the structure and link it back into the broader world as well.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Thanks! Yeah I think the group wants to do two parties but none of them want to DM. So we talked about rotating one shots so everyone gets some experience and see if anyone likes it enough to run something more. I have asked about the educators kit so hoping that comes through. And good to know about the thread of free stuff. I will look through those and help my groups find something they want to explore.
Thanks all for the advice!