Mission

Our goals are to help children explore literacy, teamwork and comprehension through D&D.

Our Mission is to promote literacy and skills through tabletop role playing games such as D&D. Promoting literacy is a natural function of most role-playing games. It is pretty much impossible to play a game without reading and understanding complex concepts. Players have to not only read but also comprehend systems that require both math and logic to understand. Dungeons and Dragons also has a rich world built on hundreds of novels and boxed sets. Players entering the world of Dungeons and Dragons can literally spend years reading and exploring a creative world that never stops producing content.

While all our programs are open to all experience levels, please remember we are primarily a young adult and teaching program and priority are to teens, beginners and families with kids under 13. All welcome where resources and  space are available.

Specific teaching goals for our program
Help participants understand RPG conventions and mechanics. RPGs have many conventions that facilitate polite discussion allowing games to run smoothly and promoting unity within the party. There are several mechanics such as ability checks that are used in most role-playing games, knowing how to use these mechanics to solve problems is another important aspect of role-playing games. These mechanics often use probability and statistics and are useful to instill Math and logic skills. Often players have to use these mechanics together as a team to overcome challenges. Most of these mechanics are learned by reading and interacting so this boosts comprehension, social skills and literacy skills.

Creating a Character. Often a role-player will read up on their character or draw from literary or media sources to create that character. This allows children to use their imagination to create the character they might play. It allows them to play a character similar to their favorite stories. The story in the games become alive for them instead of just reading about it, they can take a more active part in a story. This stimulates a role-players imagination, creativity and literacy skills.

Role-Playing is playing a role as needed by your character. You are playing a role like an actor in a play only the situation is fluid and there is no script. You are improvising based on the situation or using new vocabulary to play the role. This teaches participants self confidence, creativity and social skills.

Story-telling – RPGs are all about inventing and sharing a story among the party. All players help to create a narrative and move it along with their actions. A Game Master is merely a story teller who also acts a referee for the participants in the party. However everyone in the party is responsible for making the story interactive, creative and fun. A party weaves a story dynamically even when using a RPG adventure book. Its up to the party to bring what is written on the page to life with their interaction. Such interactive story-telling further develops the participants immersion and establishes strong relationships with those they are playing with. Players often keep detailed journals of their adventures so that they never forget the stories that they participate in.