"Be prepared to teach the game, but also to learn from players who know it better."

~Ian McKinney,
Allen County Public Library
Fort Wayne, IN

Dungeons & Dragons Afternoon Adventures

Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN

Allen County Public Library is a large public library serving 347,316 in Allen County, IN. The main library is urban, and the thirteen branches serve a mix of urban, suburban, and rural populations.

Librarian Ian McKinney has been running a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) campaign at the library during the summer for five years. D&D is a game played with books, dice, paper and pencils. Players create characters that journey through a fantasy realm in a small group, or party, to explore, slay monsters, loot rewards, and increase their skills through experience.

In 2008, McKinney opted to go with the newly available 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons (4E). McKinney explains that the redesigned game is very balanced in terms of giving all participants some really cool things they can do right away, handy for a library setting.

Running the Event

The campaign consisted of seven 2.5 hour sessions. Participation was limited to 10, but 4-6 is really an ideal party size. D&D is a time intensive game, and when you have a lot of teens playing, the focus can be hard to sustain. One easy way to engage is to enlist players in maintaining their own character sheets, keeping track of their inventory and level; let your players maintain focus on the game for the short time period you are all together.

D&D gameplay style is sometimes called "roll dice, kill monsters." The rules can seem combat-heavy, inducing new gamemasters to think that combat is what your game should be about. "What the game should be about is conflict - not just combat," says McKinney. "And the place to aim for when designing the conflict is 'how do I promise them power and then make them work to get it?'”

He discovered that presenting situations that created opportunity for the players to develop relationships between their characters not only helped with focus, but balanced out the encounters with the roleplay.

Story is key in D&D. Planning takes a long time, but McKinney advises using published adventures like Keep on the Shadowfell, a short campaign designed for low-level players new to the game. Keep on the Shadowfell combines combat encounters with roleplaying adventuring, and tips for gamemasters on how to direct the gameplay. Or, a gamemaster short on time can turn to adventures published in Wizard's online magazine, Dungeon.

Both of Wizards magazines, Dragon and Dungeon are available exclsively online. A subscription to D&D Insider (abut $60/year) gets you full access to both magazines, plus bonus tools such as the Encounter Builder, which is a big help to novice gamemasters.

A recap of the 2008 campaign was posted to McKinney's blog.

Marketing

After five years, the program nearly sells itself. With such a low attendance limit, filling the program is never an issue; having too many people and not enough slots is a problem. McKinney is thinking of offering a parallel session, or switching to a game that is less rules-intensive.

The program is marketed on the library's calendar (print and online) and on the library's teen blog. As with other gaming events, it's important to advertise your program in places gamers frequent. Don't just hang your poster at the local game store to promote your event; make an appointment to speak with with the manager or owner - they’re very savvy about promoting games and running demonstrations. "You might get a free event or two, complete with presenter, out of your discussion," says McKinney; "Do realize that their ultimate goal is to sell something, and make sure they realize that that’s not going to happen in the library."

When putting posters around town, make sure to include details like target age and attendance limits.

Equipment

The Role-Playing Game Starter Kit that contains miniatures, dice and maps, as well as a copy of the basic (updated) rules, is really all you need to start your own D&D campaign. It comes handily packages from Wizards of the Coast for $20.00.

Additional materials especially for libraries, developed by librarian Nicol Price in Glendale AZ, can be downloaded from the Wizard's website: a parent's guide, information on how to host D&D at your library, book tie-ins, character sheets, and more. Pencils, a screen or barrier of some kind for the gamemaster, and snacks are also recommended.

Facility

Space is the number one issue for gaming programs in libraries. In this case, containing volume is the biggest issue. The very nature of a D&D campaign is talking, and the storytelling, roleplaying, discussion and negotiations can get loud, funny, heated and sometimes profane, according to McKinney. Hold your session in a spot where you are unlikely to disturb others. In smaller libraries, this may mean after hours.

Literacy Connections

Reading the core manuals, as a player or gamemaster, depends on literacy skills. Learning the language and mechanics of the game involves acquiring a a new vocabulary.

Like other tabletop and videogames, roleplaying games require player creativity and imagination in developing characters and telling the story. The games encourage critical thinking and problem solving as the gamemaster puts the players in challenging situations. Players draw conclusions based on their critical thinking processes, creating new knowledge and strategies from the information in the game and their existing base of knowledge. Cooperation and teamwork is fostered as players work together to get through encounters and further the story. Players use these encounters to synthesize a common story and create a common meaning for their peer community.

Competition arises in several ways: players pit their skills against monsters and other bad guys, push themselves to excel and level, and vie for loot through dice rolls driven by chance. There is a great deal of math involved in D&D: reading the dice, distributing attributes as players complete character sheets, adding and multiplying damage during combat, understanding statistics and probability.

Impact

Strong pressure to offer D&D during the school year is one indictation of success; it's so time-intensive (McKinney spends 4-6 hours a week in planning and execution) that fitting it in is a challenge. The new Wizards Play Network offers weekly campaigns; check out D&D Delve Night, designed to offer a dungeon crawl with a low time commitment.

Building relationships with the players is a notable impact. During and after the program, participants are more likely to approach the library for questions on gaming topics and non-gaming topics. "I think also the library fits very firmly into their world view after they've had a fun time playing in my game ... like they want more of that, and assume that more will be available, because it's the library," says McKinney.

Funding $79.40

Staff and facility were provided in kind. Refreshments were the only expenditure, as McKinney was one of the lucky librarians who got a free copy of the Role-Playing Game Starter Kit when Wizards of the Coast was giving them away.

Role-Playing Game Starter Kit $20.00

D&D Insider subscription $59.40/year

Resources

For more information, please contact Ian McKinney at zardok@gmail.com.

ACPL Teens Blog

Azor Lok Blog
Campaign details

D&D Materials for your Library
Includes how to host a D&D night by librarian Nicol Price.

D&D Character Sheets
Worksheets to track character attributes and statistics.

The Pulling Report
Essay to countertact the argument made in the The Devil's Web that D&D is "evil."

RPG Sheets
Generic character worksheets

Terra Libris. www.theescapist.com/library/. February 25, 2009.
The purpose of this project is to promote and raise awareness of library projects that incorporate role-playing games. The project aims to provide resources, ideas, and networking for librarians and volunteers who would like to host role-playing progams at their library.

Wizards Play Network
Tools to host Magic: The Gathering and D&D games at your school or library, including calendars for event scheduling.