{"id":6982,"date":"2022-11-14T04:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T08:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/?p=6982"},"modified":"2022-11-21T19:57:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T23:57:39","slug":"crashs-course-ep-02-dd-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/2022\/11\/crashs-course-ep-02-dd-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Crash&#8217;s Course Ep 02: D&#038;D Club"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8067\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6982-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CrashsCourse_Ep_02_DnDClub.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CrashsCourse_Ep_02_DnDClub.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CrashsCourse_Ep_02_DnDClub.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CrashsCourse_Ep_02_DnDClub.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/?powerpress_pinw=6982-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/cogwheelgaming\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CrashsCourse_Ep_02_DnDClub.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"CrashsCourse_Ep_02_DnDClub.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4404\" src=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/CrashsCourse.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Hello and welcome to Crash\u2019s Course, a short form podcast where I share my thoughts and advice on playing and running tabletop role playing games.<\/p>\n<p>This episode is for anyone out there who wants to start a D&amp;D club. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve done, something I\u2019m currently doing, and, oddly enough, something I\u2019ve been asked about.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>First things first:<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re a staff member at a school, you\u2019re going to have a much easier time with this. It isn\u2019t why I became a teacher, but being a teacher opens a lot of doors. If you AREN\u2019T a school staff member, you\u2019re going to have to find one willing to sponsor your club. All the advice I\u2019m telling you to do here? They\u2019re going to have to do most of it.<\/p>\n<p>Second:<\/p>\n<p>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&amp;D campaign, having a school club for it is usually a no-brainer.<\/p>\n<p>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?<\/p>\n<p>Third:<\/p>\n<p>Now that you have permission, ADVERTISE! I\u2019ve found putting a bunch of permission slips in a manila folder and taping it to the wall in strategic locations is all I\u2019ve 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&amp;D and hand them a stack of slips to distribute among their friends.<\/p>\n<p>Fourth:<\/p>\n<p>Gather your resources. Have copies of the Basic Rules to hand out to each of the members if you don\u2019t have the funding for Players\u2019 Handbooks. I never have that much cash, so it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Fifth: Have a Session 0. The first meeting shouldn\u2019t 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 &amp; sorcery, wacky adventures, or something in between. If you\u2019re the DM, it\u2019s your job to cater towards your club members. You\u2019re here for them, NOT the other way around.<\/p>\n<p>Sixth: After you know their expectations, you can help them make their characters. Some will need more help than others, especially if they\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n<p>To have it not be as much of a drag, I\u2019ve 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\u2019ve handed out pre-made characters for that part before letting them make their own.<\/p>\n<p>Seventh: Remember that DMing is like teaching \u2013 follow the process, not the plan, because the plan might well be shot after the first 5 minutes. If everyone\u2019s having fun, you\u2019re Playing D&amp;D. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re only following half the rules for now \u2013 that still counts.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all for this episode, subscribe to just this podcast at <a href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse\">is.aaronbsmith.com\/@crashscourse<\/a> or all my D&amp;D podcasts at <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/\">aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel<\/a> for future episodes.<\/p>\n<p>Music is <a href=\"http:\/\/modarchive.org\/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&amp;query=169788\">Deadly Windmills by JAM from modarchive.org<\/a>, used with permission, as it\u2019s public domain.<\/p>\n<p>This podcast is distributed under a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\">CC-BY-NC-ND<\/a> license.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow this series on\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#x25b6;Patreon: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/cogwheelgaming\">https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/cogwheelgaming<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6;Mastodon: <a href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse\">https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@CrashsCourse<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6;Mastodon: <a rel=\"me\" href=\"https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@cogwheel\">https:\/\/is.aaronbsmith.com\/@cogwheel<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6;Google Podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hYXJvbmJzbWl0aC5jb20vY29nd2hlZWwvZmVlZC8\">https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hYXJvbmJzbWl0aC5jb20vY29nd2hlZWwvZmVlZC8<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x25b6;Apple Podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cogwheel-gaming\/id1291681389\">https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cogwheel-gaming\/id1291681389<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MP3 Download: <a href=\"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/CrashsCourse_Ep_02_DnDClub.mp3\">Crash&#8217;s Course Ep 02: D&amp;D Club<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=6006674\">Keep us ad free by supporting us on Patreon!<\/a><br \/>\nThanks to our current Patreon Patrons (as of this upload&#8230;): Chris, Cindy<span class=\"sc-AxirZ bmNQcS\" data-tag=\"user-details-full-name\"> (Patron Emeritus)<\/span>, Ellie, Erik<span class=\"sc-AxirZ bmNQcS\" data-tag=\"user-details-full-name\">, ShanShen, and Walter!<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello and welcome to Crash\u2019s 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&amp;D club. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve done, something I\u2019m currently doing, and, oddly enough, something I\u2019ve been asked about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[312,293],"tags":[362,318,295,327],"class_list":["post-6982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcast","category-ttrpg","tag-crashscourse","tag-dnd","tag-dungeons-and-dragons","tag-ttrpg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6982"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6995,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6982\/revisions\/6995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aaronbsmith.com\/cogwheel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}