A Dungeons and Dragons Library Lesson

UPDATE

I've run two of these sessions so far and they are by the favourite thing I've done in library lessons this year. 

Why?

Because even students who clearly have never played D&D before get involved, collaborate, create and engage in this little mini D&D session. 

My main piece of advice is that this can be run over two lessons, each lesson taking from 40-45 minutes roughly.

This is how I've run it this week:

I hand out everything the students need, including the dice which include:

1d20

1d8

1d6

1d4

Students get the character sheet, instructions on how to create a character and a class sheet (accessible by clicking the image below). 

Edit: If you are running out of time, give the students their D&D class sheet with their character sheet, this will save time. 

How to Start

Put the students into groups of 4-5 (less is better).

Each table creates one D&D character. 

I run through these steps together with the group step by step

Step 1: Ask them to choose a race (a list is on the "how to create a character" sheet) and a name. Length: 2-3 minutes

Step 2: Get them to roll their hit points: they roll a standard 6-sided dice 3 times and add the total up. Length: less than 1 minute

Step 3: Roll for their Armour Class (how hard it is to hit them) they roll an 8 sided dice 3 times and add the total up, yes there's a chance they will have a high Armour Class but that's ok. Length: Less than 1 minute. 

Step 4:  Determine how much gold they have: They roll a 4-sided dice 3 times, adding up the total and then multiplying this by 10. Length: Less than 1 minute.

Step 5: Determine their characters' Strength and Intelligence Bonus, the method is the same for both, they roll a 4-sided dice 2 times, add up the total and subtract 1 from this total. Length: 1 minute

Step 6: They answer the 6 questions on their sheets to determine what kind of character they are. Length: 5 minutes

Now we have used up around 10 minutes of the lesson.

I ask two groups to describe their characters to the class, we had some amazing ones like a gnome wizard named Beans who was suspicious of the police and loved toast. Length: 5 minutes

With the remaining 30-35 minutes, we run through the adventure. 

I read them the following (included in the pack below)

You find yourself on a muddy, uneven road. Thick mist surrounds you, on either side of the road you see a dark forest. You would not have come to this miserable place were it not for your friends, the Bly family. The Blys have asked you to investigate their manor, known as the Hollow House.

Our students have struggled with the riddle on the door therefore I suggest getting them to roll a d20 and adding their Intelligence bonuses so they can get a hint.

It's been a huge amount of fun, I cannot believe how engaged the students are and it's a great way to highlight amazing books around fantasy and D&D!

I have created a library lesson aimed at introducing students ages 11-12 to gothic settings.

I have written everything step by step and have streamlined it, you do not need to have any experience playing Dungeons and Dragons to run this session.

I suggest putting aside 45 minutes to run it, although it can be scaled back to make it faster, I explain how to do this.

The session includes imagery and handouts, puzzles, riddles and some creative writing for the students.

I really hope you and the students enjoy it, I loved creating it!

Click on the image to access the document!