Learners will explore storytelling and creative writing through role playing games (RPGs) while adventuring in the imaginary fantasy world of the classic Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. This adventure "The Lost Minds of Fan Duelin' will somewhat follow the starter adventure "The Lost Mines of Phandelin" by Wizards of the Coast.  

The class will be conducted through the Chrome Extension Above VTT. This is a Virtual Table Top (VTT) that will allow all students to interact with the game during class. In addition, the website D&D Beyond will guide our learners through the character creation process and roll dice directly from their character sheets during game play. The instructor and students will use “theatre of the mind” to describe the scenes with the learners able to move their characters on the VTT to interact with the game. There will be mild violence and fighting monsters. However, all topics will be work-place friendly with no gore or adult-themed content. 

In our first session, learners will create their characters and their own background origin stories as they adventure. Students can join the class anytime as each class is an independent lesson. The instructor will lead students through an adventure and guide them through the storytelling techniques as the adventure unfolds. Learners will choose their interests class, ancestry, which may change as they encounter different scenes of the story. 
This is a teacher led class and students will participate by taking turns during each encounter of the story figuring out puzzles, riddles, and clues to solve the mystery of what happened to the Rockseeker brothers. Learner participation is required, and learners speaking freely among themselves (meta-gaming) is encouraged. The class is more about creating a story through RPGs. 

The characters they create could continue exploring and adventures in the future. There is no prior experience or previous knowledge of role playing games required for this class. However, this class is a prerequisite course for future adventures where learners will cover different storytelling techniques. 

This is a partially home-brewed version of the Phandelver adventure with a twist for those who may have played the adventure before. We will be starting out on the first session (session 0) by creating characters on D&D Beyond. We will also review the mechanics for the virtual table top (Above VTT) to make sure everything works right. The adventure usually takes 5 to 8 sessions to complete but there is a whole world to explore after the dungeon is complete. Three to four players give the perfect amount of player interaction and game dynamics. 

You will need a computer and access to a microphone, a D&D Beyond account (free), the AboveVTT chrome extension (yup, that’s free too). If you are just chompin’ at the bit to get started, feel free to create a character on D&D Beyond and bring them to session 0, but you don't have to, because we will cover build characters in the first session and develop them further as the adventure progresses. 

The following is a breakdown of the topics covered during the first five weeks of class. 
Week 1: Character Creation
	•	Introductions - Students will meet, discuss their Role Playing Game (RPG) experience (no experience is necessary) such as Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Star Wars and describe what they hope to learn from the class.
	•	Rules - As a group, we will create a set of rules to follow as we role-play through our adventure. Including communication with each other, what type of language is allowed, how to be a team player, positive ways to play the game, and how to show respect for your fellow party members.
	•	Character Creation - This is the first session where we will create our characters on the website D&D Beyond. We will get familiar with the program and start to think about developing backstories for our characters.
	•	Finally we will familiarize ourselves with the virtual table top AboveVTT by setting our characters up and moving our tokens around. 

Any questions after class can be posted during the week and depending when they are posted, I will respond during the week.

Week 2: The Adventure Begins
	•	What is a story; character or plot?
	•	We meet the Rockseeker brothers, three dwarven miners that share a secret. 
	•	We will also learn more of the rules of Dungeons & Dragons, such as options during your turn, encounters with Non-Player Characters (NPCs), spell casting, and combat. 

Week 3: What is a story; character or plot?
	•	Story as a character in a crucible. 
	•	Character wants: to have something, to be something, to do something
	•	Crucible: is the obstacle that prevents the character wants 

Week 4: Settings (show don’t tell) 
	•	How to write something by showing and not telling, how to use description with our five senses without overdoing it. 
	•	There’s magic in writing scrolls
	•	In addition, we continue to add more to our character backgrounds and make connections to the local setting or the plot of the story so far. 

Week 5: Classic Archetypes
	•	Next we look at our character strengths and flaws, and how they connect to character arcs. 
	•	We will meet several classic archetype NPCs (the mentor, the villain, the sage, the jester, etc.). 
	•	The roles of these NPCs are typically written into stories to push the characters through the story either towards or away from their goals.