Crash’s Course Ep 02: D&D Club

Hello and welcome to Crash’s Course, a short form podcast where I share my thoughts and advice on playing and running tabletop role playing games.

This episode is for anyone out there who wants to start a D&D club. It’s something I’ve done, something I’m currently doing, and, oddly enough, something I’ve been asked about.

First things first:

If you’re a staff member at a school, you’re going to have a much easier time with this. It isn’t why I became a teacher, but being a teacher opens a lot of doors. If you AREN’T a school staff member, you’re going to have to find one willing to sponsor your club. All the advice I’m telling you to do here? They’re going to have to do most of it.

Second:

Get permission from your school administration. Most schools want a variety of after school activities, and considering the math, language arts, and storytelling skills inherent in any good D&D campaign, having a school club for it is usually a no-brainer.

Getting approval will usually include a lot of the planning. What age groups? What night will you meet? Will they have to bring anything? How much will it cost? How many can join?

Third:

Now that you have permission, ADVERTISE! I’ve found putting a bunch of permission slips in a manila folder and taping it to the wall in strategic locations is all I’ve ever needed to hit capacity for my clubs, but you might have to seek out those students who are a bit more excited for D&D and hand them a stack of slips to distribute among their friends.

Fourth:

Gather your resources. Have copies of the Basic Rules to hand out to each of the members if you don’t have the funding for Players’ Handbooks. I never have that much cash, so it’s great that I can legally distribute everything my students need to get started in a game. DnD Beyond is nice and all, but many schools block it and/or have rules against encouraging students to make accounts there to interact with staff. Mine does both, and no club is worth losing my job.

I also give each student their own set of dice. I buy a cheap bulk set of 6 dice sets with bags online and let the students pick which ones they want. I also have a pound of dice in a box that I keep at school in case they need more. This is my only out-of-pocket expense that is specific to my club.

Fifth: Have a Session 0. The first meeting shouldn’t have any actual game play beyond spontaneous in-character role playing, which I assure you does happen. In this session, go over what everyone wants out of this club. They might want traditional sword & sorcery, wacky adventures, or something in between. If you’re the DM, it’s your job to cater towards your club members. You’re here for them, NOT the other way around.

Sixth: After you know their expectations, you can help them make their characters. Some will need more help than others, especially if they’re new to the game. My own clubs have only ever had two students join who had played before, so character creation progress can be slow going.

To have it not be as much of a drag, I’ve spread out the steps in my own club. Once they had attributes and races selected, I tossed them into the start of the adventure to introduce them to the game mechanics. Other times I’ve handed out pre-made characters for that part before letting them make their own.

Seventh: Remember that DMing is like teaching – follow the process, not the plan, because the plan might well be shot after the first 5 minutes. If everyone’s having fun, you’re Playing D&D. It doesn’t matter if you’re only following half the rules for now – that still counts.

That’s all for this episode, subscribe to just this podcast at is.aaronbsmith.com/@crashscourse or all my D&D podcasts at aaronbsmith.com/cogwheel for future episodes.

Music is Deadly Windmills by JAM from modarchive.org, used with permission, as it’s public domain.

This podcast is distributed under a CC-BY-NC-ND license.

Follow this series on…

MP3 Download: Crash’s Course Ep 02: D&D Club

Keep us ad free by supporting us on Patreon!
Thanks to our current Patreon Patrons (as of this upload…): Chris, Cindy (Patron Emeritus), Ellie, Erik, ShanShen, and Walter!