“Why don’t you do something more valuable with your time?”, “Parents should be encouraging their kids to pursue more productive hobbies.”, “What’s the point?”. I hear a lot of variations of these sentiments, and it grinds my gears every time something like this comes up in conversation. Hopefully it grinds yours too. So today, my young adventurers- we’re going to discuss the academic benefits of Dungeons and Dragons. That way the next time a co-worker, friend, PTA mom, or your least favorite and overly judge-y aunt or uncle gives you a hard time you are prepared defend your questing decision. Or maybe you are that judge-y friend/aunt/uncle/PTA mom; let’s talk the truth about D&D.

Critical thinking and Problem Solving in D&D:

I personally think this is obvious- however, it must not be, considering the number of people that make scathing remarks. D&D really stretches your critical thinking and problem-solving muscles. It’s a large portion of the game. You are solving constant unexpected problems in real time.

Weather as a player unraveling puzzles, piecing together plot points, and trying to solve the overall mission of your campaign. Or as a DM who has to constantly outmaneuver their own players because someone made a ridiculous decision and the entire party went in the wrong direction as a result. The Paladin read too much into an obscure detail and now you have to figure out how to get them back on track without telling them you’re getting them back on track.

You have to ask questions and collect information through observation and constant character development in order to further the plot. Because the game is open world and open dialogue there are millions of possibilities in every interaction. Which means that your solution to the problem isn’t the only solution. And the decisions you make at the beginning of the campaign may force you and your DM to create or solve an entire different problem by the end of the story.

I haven’t played a single campaign where myself or my party didn’t unintentionally complicate or thicken the plot through our own actions thereby creating NEW and unforeseen problems to solve. The entire game is one constantly evolving puzzle that technically nobody is in control of. Which happens to make for great fun.

Creativity in D&D:

Dungeons and Dragons exercises all your creative capabilities. Not only character creation but also execution. You have to figure out how to play the character you’ve created: how they talk and what they would do in any given situation. Its almost like method acting a video game.

Creativity is also in necessary in finding solutions to every unexpected plot point your DM throws at you. You have to remember that your character is limited to the resources they have on hand or can create and utilize within their environment. Their magical, frequently hostile, and foreign environment. That means most of the time you have a team of people trying to McGuyver their way to solutions in a pinch.

I once played in a party that came upon a large camp of goblins on a mountain. We were trying to reach the top of it in order to access the temple at its peak. Our DM implied that the goblins were hostile and would be an active obstacle to us reaching our goal. Technically we were supposed to defeat the goblins, and 9/10 times that would have resulted in combat. Except we were low on supplies, two of our party were injured and we were far outnumbered.

Instead we used a magic frog totem we had picked up somewhere, Mage-Hand, a really good illusion, and my characters pet pygmy dragon to convince the goblins that a member of our party was their deity. Then we demanded a blood sacrifice that led them all to joyously jumping off a cliff. Not what our DM had in mind. But as far as solutions go- we technically defeated them. Creative problems require creative solutions.

Creativity as a DM

If you’re a DM- I take my hat off to you because you have the hardest job of all. regardless if it’s a homebrew campaign or you’re running one of the classics. You get the challenge of creating the ambiance your players experience and setting the tone. Whether that’s music, food, scents, lighting, props, maps, or creating the whole world. You also play 85% of all the different characters, stretcting yourself to distinguish each individual NPC and switch between them smoothly. You are a creative genius.

Teamwork and collaboration in D&D:

Very rarely during a campaign have I ever found myself off on my own without the rest of my party. In a successful campaigning party you learn to utilize everybody’s strengths. This balances out the team and helps cover your weaknesses. You begin to rely on certain characters to cover your back and collaborate in order to come up with solutions and ideas and solve mysteries.

D&D teaches you how to trust your teammates and how to delegate. You learn how to best utilize the players you have on your team- something that is a hugely useful skill in any leadership role. You don’t always get to pick the players on your team (or your employees) but you can learn how to best utilize the team you do have.

Math & D&D:

Math has never been my strong suit. My father would tell you that math was my greatest challenge in school and therefore one of his greatest challenges as a parent. Many of his evenings were spent sitting with me at the dining room table going over whatever the current school math topic had been. Or reading my math book to see what was coming next so he could teach it to me at home because I really struggled to focus in class on it.

I always thought it was a combination of ADHD (what I find uninteresting is almost impossible for me to focus on because there’s no dopamine in it and it is therefore a chore) combined with the fact that it was a “real time problem solving” kind of subject. Meaning it wasn’t full of information I could zone into reading or gobble down and memorize (those were the subjects I loved). I might have been able to memorize a rule or the definition of a numerator. But each equation was different and it felt like having to start over for every single math problem.

Creating Interest

D&D really helped me with my basic arithmetic as well as being able to do equations rapidly in “real time”. All of a sudden I had constant, basic math problems wrapped in an adventurous package tied up neatly with a ribbon of spontaneity and excitement (AKA dopamine). Exactly what my overactive imagination needed.

Application of Skills

During game play you are constantly adjusting your hit points, health points, cantrips, and major spell slots based on the moment to moment interactions and combat.

“I rolled my D6 for damage three times for that attack with my Warhammer and I’m advantaged because I’m raging and utilizing dwarven resilience. So that adds 2, plus my strength modifier of +2, so I deal….17 damage”

It sounds silly, but it was an effective tool in helping me apply practical math. I did better in school because of it.

Story telling in D&D:

Say what you want about story telling not being a necessary life skill- but this is a hill that I am willing to die on. Mankind has been telling stories since the beginning of time. We use them to teach lessons, share faith and beliefs, and connect with people from generation to generation. Some of the most popular modern stories are variations of the same tales we have been telling each other since the bronze age. No fairy tale: Origins of some famous stories go back thousands of years (sciencenews.org)

A Valuable Skill

Story telling is one of those skills that’s hard to teach or learn because of the way modern society is structured. But it is a valuable skill, a vastly underrated one. People connect through story telling. And I believe connection is what drives humanity. Companies spend millions of dollars every year trying to figure out how to connect with their audiences.

Story telling can make you a better communicator. It can help you relay problems and solutions in a way that people can relate to. If you work in merchandising or marketing it can help grab people’s attention.

Now you can take meetings full of statistics and numbers that nobody is really listening to anyways and turn them into a problems, situations, or stories that are relevant to the person you’re talking to. People listen to what they find relevant to them. Become a good story teller, and all of a sudden you have their attention.

If you are a DM- you’re a story teller.

You lead a group of people on an epic adventure that they have to interact and engage with. You describe worlds and people and lay multi-faceted plots at people’s feet in a way that brings them alive in the moment. If you always wished you could be in your favorite movie or book, Dungeons and Dragons is a dream come true. You get to bring that world to life for someone.

If you are a player- congratulations, you’re also a story teller.

You may not have written the campaign or created the world you’re playing in. But you tell your character’s story. Their current situation, adventures, and their backstory. You bring to life the way they talk, think and move.

Changing Educational Paradigms:

I think Educators need to consider the value of D&D as a practical application way to stitch multiple topics together. The key to educational benefits of Dungeons and Dragons is that in play, kids’ curiosity is turned on. And curiosity happens to be education’s rocket fuel. The Surprising Educational Benefits of Dungeons and Dragons – Let Grow

Are You a Teacher?

I would urge you to look into the science and psychology behind it and talk to your local educational board about incorporating it into curriculum or the classroom even in small ways. If you have a critical thinking class (and I believe all schools should) that’s a great place to apply it on a larger scale.

Do You Teach History?

Run a one shot set in the time in history or event you are studying and make your student’s participate in history in groups. You’d be amazed at what they learn about an event or time period when all of a sudden the weaponry of the American Revolution affects their hit points, or they’re struggling to complete their mission because the taxes on tea are to high and all of a sudden they get why people were pissed off.

Biology?

Pull a Miss Frizzle. One shot episode where all of your students are a white blood cell and their mission is to fight off a disease. Osmosis Jones here we come!

English?

Guess who gets to break their students up into teams and assign each team a different Shakespeare play. Tell them to run a one shot based off their play using only Shakespearean vernacular.

Assign each student a different author, then let build a character based off that author. Their mission is to battle the other authors but they’re limited to weapons and resources found in that author’s stories.

Have the entire class campaign through a book after you read it, see how they interpret it and what they get out of it. All of a sudden the Hunchback of Notre Dame is a lot more interesting to your students when they are debating whether or not Frollo is a warlock or a dark paladin.

If nothing else, I hope this has opened your eyes to the possibilities and the amount of value there is in the game. Come back soon to see the next installment of our Dungeons and Dragons series. You can find our previous post here.

Happy adventuring!

Mikaela

So, you want to play Dungeons & Dragons? But you’re an introvert. You’ve got your dice. You’ve got a basic idea for a character in your head. Hell, you may even have a group of friends to play with. But you’re not sure where to go from there.

Not to worry young adventurer, the Guild has got your back. Below is a list of our favorite resources for beginners. By no means comprehensive because the resources are endless. However, we’ve sorted and shlogged through the ones we’ve used over the years and narrowed it down to the ones that we love the best for the absolute beginners.

Those of you that, like us, want to learn the in-depth mechanics and nitty gritty character-building aspects without feeling like you have to ask a million questions in front of others. You’ll still probably have to ask some questions, but we get it; we don’t like feeling publicly inept either.

DND Player Guidebook:

This kind of goes without saying because honestly, for a beginner it’s hard to play without one. but honest-to-god this is also still on this list because at the end of the day, this is the DND basics bible. You can pick it up at any Barnes N Nobles, most gaming stores, and like everything else these days, Amazon: Amazon.com: D&D Player’s Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook): 9780786965601: Wizards RPG Team: Everything Else

Note Book or Campaign Journal:

This is a preference thing. But for me, I wanted to be able to record our campaign as well as anything else I thought would be noteworthy or useful. Especially since while you’re learning it can be hard to catch every detail since you’re focusing on mechanics. For me, it came in handy because I was able to refer back to things months later that ended up being useful for my party as a whole. Its also a great place to sketch things for reference.

Technically speaking you can use anything from a binder with paper in it, to a spiral notebook etc. You can even use a laptop and type things if you are so inclined. It’s not my preferred method because personally I prefer to write and it limits my ability to sketch. But, at the end of the day- its up to you. As we know, my sister and I can be a little extra so I typically try and find a notebook or record keeper that I feel really fits and reflects my character.

For my barbarian I had a brown raw leather bound book. For my last rogue I actually found one that had a lock on it that I thought fit her vibe. This one in the link is the one I just bought for the new character I just built that I’m going to use in Taylor’s first DMing Campaign. Amazon.com : Rosmryx DND Notebook or Journal, 200 Pages Hardcover Dragon Embossed Leather A5 Notebook, RPG & DM Character Notebook, Dragon Journal for DND Gifts or Accessories, and Players Handbook or Spell Book : Office Products I encourage you to have fun with it. It’ll add to your overall experience playing.

DND Character Sheets:

Now, some of those notebooks come with character sheets in them already. And the players handbook has a master copy that you can always scan and print if you have access to a scanner. Or, you can print them from online. dungeon and dragon character sheets – Search Images (bing.com)

For a beginner- I have found that the best thing to do is to print one and then go to Kinkos or something and get it laminated. You spend a lot of time erasing in the beginning. Honestly, its just faster and less paper waste. When you’re not playing you can slide it into a sleeve protector, so nothing gets smudged and then pull it out next time you play.

RPG Player Character Building Book:

This is by far my favorite thing on this list. On one level, character building isn’t hard, don’t let people intimidate you with that. On another level, it can be overwhelming as a first time player. The DND handbook will walk you through the basics: Race, Class, Background, Alignment, backstory, etc. BUT, then there’s making a character that is layered, detailed, and roll-playable. You can go basic, sure. But DND is one of those things that the more you put into it, the more detail and life you give it- the more you’ll get out of it.

This book is a great tool for figuring out how you want to play your character once you’ve built them. The Beauty of this book? You can get it in hard copy/ paper copy if you’re like me and want the tangible thing, or want to actually fill out the prompts in the book. OR its also available on kindle unlimited (AKA FREE) for on-the-go endless use. The Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide: Prompts and Activities to Create the Most Interesting Story for Your Character (Ultimate Role Playing Game Series) – Kindle edition by D’Amato, James. Humor & Entertainment Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

DND Beyond:

This is technically the grand cheat code of beginners guides for actual game mechanics. Basic access is free- which is a great place to start. If you want access to some of the more obscure races (or are going more non-traditional/ homebrew) then there are things you end up paying for. Either way, totally worth it if you want to focus on getting into character instead of how to roll your dice and do the math portion.

This takes out ninety percent of the guess work involved if this is the part that intimidates you. You can create your character, run your sheet, even roll digital dice (if you happen to forget yours) and it will do all the modifier math for you. If you want the action, social, role-play adventure part but looking at all the variables and what goes with what makes you nauseous- then this is your best friend. You can find the link to start for free here: D&D Beyond Character Sheet (dndbeyond.com)

Hopefully, these resources make your early days of adventuring less intimidating. If you’re new to the blog or just trying to decide if you think DND is for you- check out our guild talk post Q&A on DND here. We’re excited to continue our Dungeons and Dragons Series with you. We have a new campaign starting soon as Taylor steps into the roll of Dungeon Master for the first time. Are there other resources you have tried or really love? Let us know!

We’ll see you on the battlefield!

Mikaela