Dungeons & Dragons® can be a great ongoing library program for all ages, though it does specifically support several developmental assets for young people. It builds community, gets youth in a social situation with peers outside of school, and encourages creativity and storytelling - all common targets for planning youth programs in the library. Next week I'll be holding a "Dungeons & Dragons 101" session at our biweekly Teen Game Night to introduce our curious teens to the game and see if there is interest in an ongoing campaign at the library. As a D&D geek, I'm ridiculously excited about sharing my nerd passion.
One of the great things about D&D is that you can really get by with very little in the way of materials; the game becomes richer and more detailed the more “stuff” you get, but the basics are quite inexpensive these days. The must-haves can be purchased cheaply even if there isn’t a lot of interest to start with. The rest can be added on if there’s interest in a regular library gaming group.
Must Haves:
Player’s Handbook (Heroes of the Fallen Lands), $14. This book has everything needed to learn the basic rules and build basic characters to use in the game. This is the most current edition and is designed to make it very easy for new players to learn. Older, more experienced D&D players tend to dislike it because it’s a big change from earlier editions, but this is the cheapest, most readily available, and easiest to learn edition available. This, and all books on this list, are only published in paperback, so I would recommend library binding or laminate covers if you anticipate regular use. If you have high interest or a large player base, it would be worth investing in two or three copies.
Dice, $6-$22. D&D is played with a set of 7 polyhedral dice. You can buy one set for about $6-$8 and have everyone share one set, or you can go with the Chessex Pound-O-Dice for about $22 and likely have enough of each for everyone to pick a color they like to play with. There are also free dice rolling apps available for smartphones, iPads, eReaders, and computers if you have the technology and don't want to keep track of small easily lost items.
Really Nice To Haves:
Player’s Handbook II (Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms), $14. This is just shy of “must-have”. The original player’s handbook provides options for only 4 different types of characters. This book adds another 4 character types which lets the teens build a much more diverse group and get more creative with their characters. It also adds new player races for more customization. If you can swing it, definitely buy this too.
Dungeon Master’s Kit, $27. You can get by without this if you have staff or patrons who are already experienced Dungeon Masters, but this would be really good to have for any sort of ongoing D&D campaign. It would also be awesome for any patrons who want to learn how to DM. Comes with a super useful DM screen, tokens, monsters, maps, and a bunch more goodies.
Good To Haves:
Monster Vault, $20. More monsters to fight, good DM resource. Nice for variety's sake and great for DMs who want to get creative, but by no means essential.
Rules Compendium, $14. Easy reference for all the rules that are spread throughout all the various books. Good for players and DMs alike to make games run more smoothly. One copy per gaming group is enough.
I'm currently writing a handout for D&D 101 that I'll also post here in a few days. Here's hoping our D&D supplies arrive before the game night!
Have questions? Want to debate the above choices? Need some help getting started with D&D in your library? Leave me a comment!
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