How to Engage Middle Schoolers in RPGs- From Teen DMs Who Know!

You think you are ready to be a hero, but are you ready to face down one of the most intimidating swarms of all - middle schoolers? Our middle school DMs do just this every week in our 40+ person DnD group. Learn from these +3 intelligence teens who design encounters, jump into leadership, wrangle peers and make it all fun. It's all part of the fun at Heroes' Hall, our after school RPG club where students take the lead. Is killing goblins colonialist? What happens when someone just wants ALL the pets? Should we be worried about the kids who just want to burn down the orphanage? Join us to learn what it is like to be a peer leader, get lots of tips for dealing with murder and flirter hobos, find out what middle schoolers really want in their games, and have some fun!

Objectives:

·     Participants will be able to develop meaningful encounters for middle school students in RPG settings.

·     Participants will be able to recognize developmentally appropriate middle school behaviors at the table and how to encourage their use for good.

·     Participants will begin to develop a toolbox for working with middle school players.

·     Participants will be able to critique current encounters and table norms for appropriateness in use with middle school student RPG players.

References:

·     Cullinan, M. "Surveying the Perspectives of Middle and High School Educators Who Use Roleplaying Games as Pedagogy.” Submitted to: American Educational Research Journal (It should be published by then)

·     Darvasi, P. (2018). How 'Dungeons & dragons' primes students for interdisciplinary learning, including STEM. Retrieved from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/51790/how-dungeons-dragons-primes-students-for- interdisciplinary-learning-including-stem

·     Fine, G. A. (2021). Shared fantasy: Role-playing games as Social Worlds. University of Chicago Press.

·     Yang, K., Petersen, K. J., & Qualter, P. (2020). Undesirable social relations as risk factors for loneliness among 14-year-olds in the UK: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 46(1), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025420965737