What would you do if a mysterious letter called you to a guarded mansion, a goblin camp, or a dungeon no one has ever mapped? What kind of hero would you be: the clever rogue, the stubborn barbarian, or the wizard who knows exactly one fire spell and isn’t afraid to use it? This two-session course brings middle schoolers into Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the tabletop role-playing game where players and a Dungeon Master tell a story together, one choice and one roll of the dice at a time. The first session starts with what role-playing games are and how they work: the dice, the character sheet, and how rules and imagination fit together. Then students build their own characters from scratch, moving through each step as a group. They choose a background (who were you before the adventure began?), then a species, then a class. Along the way they learn how ability scores, skills, and checks turn an idea into a playable hero. By the end of the day, students will have formed adventuring parties and started imagining the quest ahead.
In the second session, the dice come out for real. Parties gather around a campfire, introduce their characters in their own voices, and set off on an adventure built from ideas they came up with the week before. It might be a rescue, a heist, or something no one saw coming. Along the way they’ll solve puzzles, talk their way through tricky encounters, and fight the occasional battle. They’ll also find that the best plans usually come from listening to one another and building on each other’s ideas. Experienced players are welcome, and students who are curious about being the Dungeon Master will get a chance to run the game for their peers, with support. Whether they are brand new to D&D or already on their tenth character, every student leaves with a finished character, a feel for how the game flows, and a sense of what it takes to tell a good story with other people.
