Hero Academy: Introducción a Dungeons and Dragons para principiantes absolutos (8-10)

Welcome to the Guild of Imagination!

My name is Patrick Stephens. I have a love for tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons and want to bring that love to as many people as I can. The Guild of Imagination will be teaching classes on how to play Dungeons & Dragons with a focus on team storytelling, problem solving, critical thinking, social interaction and much more!

I am a father of 4 and have been playing both board games and tabletop role-playing games with my children since I can remember. We love to get together as a family, with cousins or friends and tell amazing stories! I personally love Dungeons & Dragons because of the bonds you create with the other people playing the game with you. You also get to build memories of going on fantastic adventures with friends and driving that story. I created the Guild of Imagination to help your children build those memories, too!

The Guild of Imagination offers 4 types of classes, each one is color coded on our class pictures:

**Green Guild Badge (Apprentice) - These classes are for beginners. Your child may want to play Dungeons & Dragons but maybe doesn't know how to get started. Or maybe they want to learn how to create a character for the game. Maybe they've played a little, but aren't comfortable jumping in with experienced players. For Apprentice classes look for the Green Guild Badge!

**Blue Guild Badge (Hero) - These classes are for kids that may have experience or are ready to jump in and learn with others that have played before. If your child is looking for a multi-week or ongoing campaign they can play with other kids that love the game they can find that here. For Hero classes look for the Blue Dragon Badge!

**Orange Guild Badge (Scholar) - These classes are for players or Dungeon Masters looking to up their game. These classes will provide your child with inside knowledge, hints, tricks and tips to help them create more believable worlds, run a smoother game for their friends, or maybe learn some rules they hadn't known about before. For Scholar classes look for the Orange Guild Badge!

**Purple Guild Badge (Explorer) - These classes are for the children that love mysteries and exploring new worlds. These classes don’t focus on a role-playing game like Dungeons & Dragons, instead you’ll find the guild’s Puzzle Adventures and Virtual Reality experiences. Your child will solve puzzles, crack codes and explore worlds! For Explorer classes look for the Purple Guild Badge!
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Our Dungeon Masters

**Patrick Stephens** - Patrick is a father of 4 and has been playing both board games and tabletop role-playing games with his children since he can remember. He loves Dungeons & Dragons because of the bonds you create with the other people playing the game with you. You also get to build memories of going on fantastic adventures with friends!

**Dean McKinnon** - In 2020, Dean created Dragons Love Parties, a D&D events company in Toronto, Canada. He has over five years experience playing and running Dungeons and Dragons games (and various tabletop games) as well as five-years experience programming for kids ages 8-16 with Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada. After playing D&D with his own kids, he realized the incredible gift of the game — an opportunity for creativity, problem-solving and imaginative play for a team of friends. It is his greatest pride and passion to introduce and facilitate games of D&D to kids and adults all over the world.

**Gary Sousa** - Gary started his D&D career in the late 70s with the original box set and spent the better part of the 80s saving up his dollars and cents for the latest module from TSR or thumbing through the most-recent issue of Dragon Magazine at his local hobby store. Ever the DM, he learned to enjoy building and managing the sandbox in which his friends could play out their imaginations. Although “growing up” put his RPG self into temporal stasis, Gary eventually found his way back into education as a high-school teacher, where he came to realize the potential of game play as a formal learning tool. Now in his third decade of teaching history, Gary uses a number of role-playing scenarios, both in his classroom and in his leisure time, and most enjoys developing the means to meld both modes.

**Cory Gillings** - In 2020 Cory Gillings began his journey to provide a safe place for kids to learn, create, share and express themselves. He started the D20 Guild Enrichment Program where he teaches kids how to play Dungeons and Dragons as an extracurricular activity where they get practice with math, literacy, problem solving and growth mindset training. He uses Dungeons and Dragons as an amazing tool for kids to learn social emotional development. Allowing kids of all ages to express themselves with confidence and explore the endless possibilities of a life of an adventurer. He hopes to one day open an afterschool facility.

**Shayne Taylor** - Despite an almost lifelong background in roleplay, performance, gaming, and storytelling – particularly within the Fantasy genre – Shayne only really found D&D within the last few years. Once he discovered that this game (and other TTRPGs like it) could provide those passions with such structure and comradery, however, the floodgates were opened. Before ever playing in a single session, Shayne began writing adventures to share with his friends and instantly jumped behind the DM’s screen.

His love of D&D has grown exponentially since then, with his focus geared towards creating safe, accessible, and inclusive spaces for people of all backgrounds and abilities to experience the power of this game. He is so excited for the opportunity to help youth tell their stories; explore their creativity; and build the kind of lasting memories and kinships that Bards will sing of for ages to come.

**Tom Madge** - Hello! I’m Tom, an avid gamer, world builder and dungeon master! I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons for over 14 years among other games, love creating my own worlds for players to explore and have recently began creating my own homebrew rules.

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We can't wait to go on your next adventure with you!