What if there was a way to get your kid to beg to study math, probability, trigonometry, read pages of history and mythology, parse dense legalese for linguistic loopholes, write creatively, work on improvisation, team storytelling, branching immersive narrative design, puzzles, and dozens more soft skills and STEM subjects?

There is. It just takes dragons, sword fights, and lots and lots of dice. This class will use the most popular Roleplaying game as a launchpad to not only create new characters, plots, crisis points and settings, but also use the game to practice a TON of math, puzzles and science research! What happens when the temperature goes down but the salt content of a lake rises? Let's find out! In the Dungeons and Dragons game, the most popular TTRPG (Tabletop Roleplaying Game) in the world in 2025, we explore so much more than just a new world! In this class, we use an analog educational game (no screen!) that depends on paper, pencils, imagination, and lots of face to face collaboration with your peers. It also relies on using the pythagorean theorem to calculate whether your healing spell will reach your barbarian if they’re flying 30 feet in the air and 30 feet away. Or whether your damage is better with a 2d6 greatsword or 1d12 great axe. It’s a game of studying the myth of Medusa so she won’t turn your party into statues. It’s a game where the only way into the evil wizard’s lair is solving a series of logic puzzles, or negotiating and talking your way out of fighting a dragon might be the party’s only chance of survival.

But first and foremost this a collaborative storytelling game.

Students write the backstory of their own epic hero, learning what it is to flesh out a fully developed three dimensional character with goals and flaws. They then learn how to use conflict and dramatic stakes to develop that narrative further. By the end they’ll each have all the necessary components to write their own epic fantasy adventure straight out of JRR Tolkien. With our fearless leader, Mr. Mike helps students develop their writing skills through in class assignments, homework assignments and helping students learn to collaborate and decide on ideas to deepen both the plot and the character development for each participant. And of course, students see in real time the impact of their creative decisions, and have the opportunity to take their adventure to a new level of creativity!

This is a game of infinite possibility, and while imaginative, historical/ fantasy combat is a part of the game’s structure, we make sure to structure it in a way that is sensitive to what is appropriate for the student’s age. It is more about learning to build a story with your fellow players than it is about fighting goblins.

Epic Quests in Creative Writing Wednesdays Fall (p. 1)