How the after-school program goes

Each program will vary slightly by the number of participants, the number of weeks, and the age of those involved.
However, those slight variations will occur within a structured curriculum built to keep kids happy, engaged, and entertained.

A fun way to learn how to roleplay

We know tabletop roleplaying can feel overwhelming. There’s rulebooks, history, strange dice, unusual species, and whole new worlds to get to know. But, we’ve designed a curriculum to help ease young people into it, ensuring that at every stage, they’re having fun, and getting excited for the next.

Intro to fantasy and roleplaying

Yellow right-pointing arrow on a black background

Primer game with simple rules

Yellow arrow pointing to the right

Character building and sheets

Black background with a yellow arrow pointing to the right

Miniature figure painting

Yellow arrow pointing to the right.

Roleplaying gaming sessions

A white Pegasus with wings rearing up on a grassy hill against a partly cloudy sky.

Introduction to fantasy and roleplaying

Getting to know a pony from a pegasus.

We start by putting context around the world in which Dungeons and Dragons takes place.

Most children are already familiar with fantasy. Books like The Chronicles of Narnia, The Magic Faraway Tree, Harry Potter, Redwall and of course The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings borrow and share themes, species and constructs that exist in Dungeons and Dragons. So we really don’t have to do too much. We simply remind the children of the amazing things that become possible in these fantasy worlds - things like ferocious owlbears, floating castles, and friendly dragons.

Getting them to imagine new species is hilarious.

A fantasy character sheet featuring a portrait of an elf with long black and red hair, pointed ears, and detailed facial features. The sheet includes stats such as strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, and other attributes. A yellow 20-sided die showing the number 13 is placed on the lower right corner of the sheet.

Primer game with simple rules

Pre-built character cards get us started.

In our first gameplay scenario, we’ll introduce the children slowly to the core parts of tabletop roleplaying. We’ll provide them with pre-built characters and launch them into a short story that will involve problem solving, storytelling, and a simple battle.

They’ll quickly learn to describe what they want their character to do, roll the dice to determine success, and the basics of what happens in a turn-based interaction.

This is a custom game we designed to get kids excited about tabletop roleplaying. It’s a hoot.

BELONGING

CONFIDENCE

PROBLEM-SOLVING

COLLABORATION

CREATIVITY

BELONGING CONFIDENCE PROBLEM-SOLVING COLLABORATION CREATIVITY

A young student with a close-cropped haircut is filling in his Dungeons and Dragons character sheet at a desk, with other students blurred in the background.

Character building and sheets

Will they choose barbarian or bard?

First they get to choose a species. Of course, they can be human. But they can also choose to be a tabaxi (that’s a cat-like humanoid), or a harengan (rabbit-like humanoid), a dwarf, an elf (not of the Christmas variety), an orc or anything else really.

Then they decide their class. You can think of class like their specialty. Or occupation. They might want to be a healer, or a spell caster. Maybe a bard who likes to sing and tell jokes. Or a barbarian who only wants to eat pizza and grunt at people who look at him the wrong way.

There are literally thousands of characters they can create.

Children and a teacher painting miniatures at a table in a classroom as part of KINHALL's after-school tabletop roleplaying program.

Miniature figure painting

Miniatures make it more fun.

Think of the miniatures as player tokens - like the thimble in Monopoly. They help players orient themselves on a map, and aid the Dungeon Master in understanding and explaining what is happening, to who, and where.

To help the children get excited about their miniatures, we have one painting session, where we teach them how to mix colors, apply paints in layers, choose the right brushes, and bring out the details and textures they want. We supply all of the equipment, and the kids get to keep their miniature!

It gets a little messy. But it’s a whole lotta fun.

Group of children in purple shirts playing tabletop role-playing game with a grid map and miniatures, guided by an adult. They are seated around a table with character sheets and dice. Part of KINHALL's after-school tabletop roleplaying program.

Roleplaying gaming sessions

Let the story unfold!

For the majority of the program, the children will be bringing their unique characters to life in a story that requires them to imagine a whole new world, interact with strange and wonderful beings, work together to solve problems, and roll dice to determine whether their chosen actions lead to their desired outcomes.

Our Dungeon Masters are trained to keep the story flowing, the play fun, and to ensure all leave feeling like they’ve contributed in a meaningful and creative way.

Seriously, they’ll love it.

Ready to Join the Story?

KINHALL programs are designed for beginners. We provide everything needed to get started.

register your child for a program

Questions about ages, experience, equipment, group sizes or anything else?

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