Class Description
Thanks to the popularity podcasts and shows like “Stranger Things,” it seems everyone is coming out of the nerd closet to play Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Now you can, too. In this new, innovative hybrid workshop designed for newcomers to D&D, you’ll learn how to play the venerable fantasy role-playing game involving elves, dwarves, wizards, evil foes, and multi-sided dice. But in a twist, you’ll also use your character and the world of the game to flex your writerly muscles.
We’ll spend the first part of our day together discussing some of the game’s fantasy tropes and literary influences that shaped it, including authors such as Ursula K. LeGuin, J. R. R. Tolkien, and myths and legends). Game-inspired writing exercises will help you develop your character with stakes and backstory, launch the story, and dive into world-building – as well as provide the foundation for fun and exciting role-playing. Then, we’ll dive into a serious session of game play --- your first quest --- using an easy to learn, customized version of the game that will get you up to speed and playing pronto. You’ll role-play your character, slay some orcs, solve puzzles, and score some cool treasure and magic along the way. We’ll end the day with a debrief of the experience, and more writing to capture the adventure, the stories, and your hero’s journey.
Mountain Dew and Doritos and other surprises will be provided. Bring paper, pencil and an open mind. Join us, adventurers!
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.