Perfectly Perilous

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: "Voyage to Stormwreck Isle". The starter set adventure, however, still required some additional prep on the part of the DM, and a little more than six 30 minute sessions to run.  

Peril in Pinebrook

So, recently, game designer and game design professor, Shawn Merwin, most known in my household for the Podcast, Mastering Dungeons, wrote "Peril in Pinebrook", a free, introductory adventure designed for new and young Dungeons & Dragons players. This should be a part of the School Club kit!!! This is EXACTLY what we need! This is ideal for a school club experience as it:  

• Allows young Dungeon Maters to learn while running it right at the table with little to no prep.
• Gives players a simplified character sheet that is a "true" D&D character but simplified for beginners.
• A short, self-contained adventure, perfect for my short time with the kiddos.
• Tips for encouraging roleplay and keeping the adventure moving
• Simplified rules, so there's no need to reference even the Basic Rulebook.

The adventure is recommended for four players, plus a Dungeon Master, and can be run in a single game session lasting 60 to 90 minutes, or be broken up into six 10- to 15-minute sessions. 

But, wait, there's more!!! It's available to download as a PDF, so it won't "go away" like the free "Lost Mines of Phandelver" did on DnDBeyond. It's also nicely formatted for printing, a boon for school club advisors everywhere. 

Using Pinebrook

Organizing the kiddos

For starters, I divide my club kiddos up into groups of five to four, not four to five or five to six. The standard is five. the exception is four. I typically want a DM and four players. I tell students that if more than one person is excited to learn to DM, they should alternate responsibilities. I typically talk about how the main thing preventing D&D from happening more often is a lack of Dungeon Masters. 

Organizing Materials

I print enough adventures for each table. I comb bind the adventure (staples are probably fine), print enough player references for each player, and a sheet for each of the included player characters. I also throw in some dice (grab a bunch from Amazon), pencils, and index cards. I place all of these items in a plastic craft drawer. You can also use a tray, a copy paper box lid, or whatever you have handy. 

I encourage each table to come up with an inspiring heroic team name (or a ridiculous one), and write it on the back of one of their index cards. This will go on the top of their drawer when I collect it for easy redistribution next time.  

First Session Activity

In addition to naming their group, I have them do the following: 

• Players read over the Player Reference Sheet and discuss
• Players pick a character (resolve any conflicts with a D20 roll off).
• Meanwhile, DM's read the adventure book (pages 2 to the top of page 5)

Then if we still have time, everyone picks up together on the 2nd "Read-aloud" box on page 5. 

I ran the club like this last trimester and it was brilliant! I can't say enough great things about this as an intro to D&D experience.