Roleplaying at School: A Teacher’s Guide

Having joined the teaching profession around 5 years ago, I’ve set up roleplaying clubs in two UK secondary (high) schools and seen both flourish. That’s kids aged 11-16.

The first group began with 3 curious teenagers who wanted to play Warhammer 40K (not roleplay) and finished, 3 years later, with a group of around a dozen playing both the Pathfinder and Imagine RPGs; they’d also experimented with Fate, Savage Worlds, and a couple of other titles. There were two Gamemasters running the sessions, neither of whom were me.

The current group has, after 1 year, grown from a couple of curious newbies to a group with around 14 players running two D&D games under the auspices of two Gamemasters. Last week, for the first time since last July, I agreed to run a game to give one Gamemaster an interlude, but he’ll be back in a fortnight.

I consider both groups a success. Yes, both have had their ups and downs… and some people came and went. Yet, overall, the hobby gained new players and those players had a lot of fun. This post is a rough set of tips on how to get that kind of group off the ground.

Tip 1: Step Up, Young Padawan

As a teacher, or other interested worker in a school… well, you need to step up and make this happen.

In all the schools I’ve worked in, the reason there was no roleplaying was because there was no teacher willing to give up the time and to make the effort. If you build it, they will come. Go and see whoever manages extra-curricular stuff at the school and schedule a weekly gaming slot – 1-2 hours after school works fine.

That said, the first session will be you and whichever kids you personally invite.

Tip 2: Invite Some Students To A Game

Don’t start by building a club. Build a gaming group.

Step up and plan, and then run, a short adventure in the game of your choice. Invite students you teach who might be interested in gaming to come and play – there will be maybe two or three. If they come, they will likely bring a friend – maybe to the first session, more likely to the second. I made little business cards with the game logo on, details of the game, and time and place: weekly scheduled after-school game in my allocated classroom. I gave each invited student two cards – one for them, one for a friend.

As for the game, make it an action-orientated genre and easy to pick up set of rules.

Tip 3: First Time, Make It A Pick-Up Game

I’m an Old-School Gamemaster. I picked Labyrinth Lord at the first school; I ran Basic Roleplaying at the second. Each game lasted 1-2 sessions only. My theory runs something like this…

When I was 10, I started by playing RuneQuest, Traveller, and D&D with mates after-school for 1-2 hours. I’m still playing. Thus, why not run similar games under similar circumstances to give the guys a similar experience? So far, with two groups formed and 4 new Gamemasters out there, I’d say that works.

You need to run something that you genuinely like. Both those early sessions also had pre-generated characters and ran for only one or two sessions. As soon as the guys asked if they could make their own characters, I turned up next time ready to do just that. This next session was character creation; then we roleplayed until the group grew to the point that we needed a second Gamemaster.

The scenarios? Both times, it was a simple dungeon with some goblins. A few cool fights, finding the treasure, and maybe a character death or two. Actually, one group TPKed. It was fun for all because we just created new characters and got back to play. Last year, the group played the same dungeon three times – two TPKs – and finally just ran out of time as the academic year came to an end. This year, they had two new Gamemasters and have been independent since.

Tip 4: D&D5e Makes A Good Start

Before last year, it was Pathfinder – and just the core rulebook plus the Bestiary. Then, last year, along came D&D5e, which turned out to be even better because the rulebook is free as a download.

In fact, unless you really can’t stomach D&D, I’d recommend it full-stop. No, it’s not the perfect RPG at all… but it is accessible (free), easy-to-learn, and plays well. Also, the kids get to do what we enjoyed doing: going down the dungeons, killing the monsters, and looting the treasure. As far as I can tell, they’ll be happy doing that right up until they’re not. (And then you can tell them about whatever game is going to scratch their itch.)

Get them playing D&D. It’s free.

Tip 5: Other Games Come In Year 2

At one or two hours a week, and 39 weeks in the academic year, you’ll find that they’ll only need one or two adventures in that first year. During Year 2, as the group grows (and this naturally occurs by word of mouth, as long as you don’t force it), you’ll need a new Gamemaster. I simply asked the player who seemed most into the game to step-up… each time, given some support and advice (and maybe a couple of resources, like an adventure module and a Dungeon Master’s Guide), those guys did great!

Once the other group is playing D&D, I turn up with some other games. One at a time, I would try out a game that I simply wanted to try – and I was dead honest about it. Sometimes those games flopped. Sometimes they ran… like, for example, the Imagine game that ended up spawning another Gamemaster, and then turned into another table of gamers.

Two principles here:

1. Share your love for the hobby; tell tales and let them see the rich history of your own experience in roleplaying. The guys are curious.
2. Hold every game loosely: if they want to play, go with it… but if they balk, stop and try something else. And if a game sparks another keen group, be ready to let them go off on their own.

Tip 6: Be Generous

Look, these guys often can’t afford to buy a rulebook outright. They would need family to buy it as a birthday or Christmas present, or similar. Remember how suspicious your family was when you started? Well, it’s the same for these guys too.

What I do is that I point them at the freebies online… and I share what I own freely. Buy a second copy of the Player’s Handbook, for example, and let them borrow it to death. When parents see them reading it at home, hear them talking nothing else, and realise that this stuff is fun for the kids… well, they’ll buy them a copy later. My table rule was that you could only use what was in Basic D&D (the freebie) until you got your own Player’s Handbook. There are some new books in the group now that Christmas has passed.

For Gamemasters, I give them what they need. For D&D, that was a GM Screen and the Dungeon Master’s Guide. A chunk of cash spent… but that guy runs games for 6 players. I lent him my Starter Set for the adventure too. They are still playing, having begun that adventure in September. He just needs a break while he writes his own second adventure. How awesome is that?

Be generous. Share what you have. Tell them what you know. Point them at the bargains.

Game on!