DnD For the Kids

Today's Project I just wanted to share a quick arts and crafts project I recently took on as a part of my D&D session prep. I got some great feedback on this over on Reddit so I wanted to share here. Some Context Battlemats are a very useful tool in tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, serving to visually represent the battlefield and enhance the tactical aspects of combat. In fact, the core 5e rules, both in 2014  and 2024, assume the use of a Battlemat for combat, despite the majority of the designers supposedly preferring theater of the mind combat. I love a visual representation of the environment, not just a clear, shared visual of the combat area, allowing players and myself to place miniatures, tokes, or pawns on the grid, but also a vibrant, captivating representation of the environment for the players. Battlemats can depict various environments, such as dungeons, forests, or city streets, adding to the immersion of the game. I started my D&D adv...

 I made this post to share some encounter cards I made for Chapter 6 of Tyranny of Dragons (or Hoard of the Dragon Queen) in this case. Print these out on card stock and fold them over your DM Screen. Note: For this set, I am using supplements from DM's guild that make Bog Luck a Wereboar.  Download ToD Ch6 Monster Cards Donate Also, for chapter 6, I wanted to share some of my arts and crafts fun. For this Battle map of Carnath Roadhouse, I used large poster paper and "Print and Paste Dungeon Textures" from Crooked Staff Terrain .  I also did a top-floor overlay. I'll post pics of that as soon as I get some. 

Okay, this is going to be one of those deals where you came here to get my crabcake recipe, but you have to listen to my whole life story and what happened with great Aunt Eunice during the depression to get there. I'm sorry in advance.  You're probably here to get the print files for the Rod of Seven Parts . If that's the case, and you have no patience for my story, just scroll down. I'll put a heading there. Otherwise, on to glory! I'm one of those guys who is super creative, motivated in short stints, has a full time job (but makes very little money), and can't get a side hustle going because of too many responsibilities and a bad case of ADHD. Why am I telling you this? Well, maybe we can help each other out. "Stay awhile and listen..." About My Stuff My first Budget Bespoke post was all about the stuff I made for my Dragon Heist game, including some original STL files I made in Tinkercad of all things.  Anyway that met with overwhelming positive...

As I've mentioned here before, I am a Middle School teacher and I have a D&D club during our school clubs period. This is a super popular club with great attendance and others waiting to get in. It poses a unique challenge, though, being a part of the school day, rather than an after-school club. Basically, I have 30 minutes once every 2 weeks, to introduce D&D to kids with little to no experience, who are with me for a trimester, roughly 6 - 7 sessions if we're lucky.  Free Club Kit Wizards of the Coast sent me their free club kit, which included the a copy of the recently released D&D Starter Set: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, instructions and guidelines for club organizers, a quick demo and learn-to-play guide for Dungeon Masters, easy-to-read character cards, a poster to advertise your club, flyers, a Campaign Case: Terrain, and a Campaign Case: Creatures. This was a great start. Especially useful was the a quick demo and learn-to-play guide for Dungeon Masters: ...

 Hey all,  I'm sorry I haven't kept up on posting here. I know I don't have many readers, and I probably have fewer now. Listen, I can talk about my recent professional struggles, the personal challenge of raising a one-year-old at the age of 47, and all the ways my life is made more challenging by co-parenting 2 teenagers with my ex-wife. At the end of the day, I just may be too ADHD to post regularly.  Anyway, I shall endeavor to do better.  To anyone out there that reads this blog and is trying to run D&D for adolescents and kids, thank you. You are awesome.  Clint

In this post I will endeavor to walk you through how I used one of D&D Beyond's Encounter of the week articles to guide my middle school D&D Club table DM’s through their first encounter. For all the links and materials I used, scroll to end.  It has been a minute since my last D&D club update. A lot has happened between last year and this year! First, my partner in crime , teacher / author / renaissance man, Jared Reck , has moved to the high school, leaving me solely responsible for the Middle School D&D club. Meanwhile, its popularity has grown. I now have about 30 kids to teach this game to and to manage! In other news, Wizards of the Coast has gotten involved in my little world of DND in education. Thanks to a shout out from Greg Tito and Shelley Mazzanoble , I ordered the after school club kit . I’m still waiting for it to arrive, but I was able to get D&D beyond unblocked at my school, giving me access to all the resources I already have, including Lo...