Storytelling is a key component to tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). In fact, without it, there would be nothing to roleplay. In looking at the world around you, so much requires the skill of storytelling, and I have found TTRPGs give the perfect medium for teaching it. We will discuss how everyone at the table can be a part of telling a compelling story, whether they are a player or Dungeon Master. We will also examine games that have been released and the different ways they look at crafting the world, characters and lives that tables play through. 

These skills can be used for Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, or any other TTRPG that learners may enjoy as well as assist in other facets of learning. 

During certain weeks, assignments will come up that practice what we learn in class. We will use those as additional talking points as well as our resources of books and some slide decks I have prepared. I run my classes as an open discussion as I believe you can find the most enthusiasm for learning from those that have questions and can voice them openly. I use resources for additional points of information to be visual. If there are other ways it seems learners in the class work best, I will incorporate those into our time together to ensure they are getting the most out of this course as possible. 

We will use Outschool Classroom to communicate. For any assignments, students can turn them in by posting them as attachments on the classroom page. Students who would rather not share their work will be able to submit it to me on the Teacher tab for privacy. I’m happy to answer questions at any point throughout the week via the classroom page or in private messaging. During class, I ask that learners participate in discussion as much as possible and keep feedback to their peers kind and respectful.

Here is a breakdown of our semester together. Please note some of these may change slightly as I work with my learners to create a curriculum specific to their learning wants and needs.

Week One:

We will take our first hour of class with a quick introduction and spend the rest of our time sharing what our favorite stories are. To look at what makes a great story, we will look at what makes these our favorite. Should we have time, we will have a slight start on the second week’s information. This week will include assignment one which will be related to our class discussion.

Week Two:

We will discuss the storytelling responsibilities of a Dungeon Master vs. a player, and how those storytelling choices build off of each other while we outline plot, genre and tone.

Week Three:

Next up we will look at all the parts of a story such as the introduction, the rising action, the climax, and the resolution as we go through a module for play written for Dungeons & Dragons. This week will bring our second assignment where learners will write their own outline for a story using these sections in the form of a game module.

Week Four:

We will look at Kids on Brooms & Kids on Bikes for a new look at storytelling. We will also breakdown what storytelling means in relation to world building and discuss the pros and cons of building your own world vs one that is already written and established.

Week Five: 

We will use the ruleset in Kids on Bikes or Kids on Brooms to build out a world as a classroom in a collaborative way and practice building off the ideas of others. This week’s assignment will include breaking down the world that their favorite story takes place in.

Week Six:

We will look at BadgeQuest as a ruleset, looking at prewritten adventures and how they can be adjusted to make your story unique and exciting for your table.

Week Seven: 

We will look at Honey Heist, our final game, and compare and contrast a simplistic ruleset that cements more in setting to a more intricate ruleset that leaves a more open idea of story. Our last assignment will have students dive further into this topic.

Week Eight:

On our last week together, we will discuss everything we have learned, and I will answer any final questions before we take all of our knowledge of the semester and make our own story as a class.

Thank you so much for reading through this. I hope it is something you and your learner would be interested in. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to reach out in my private messages. I hope to be teaching with you soon!