Dungeons and Dragons

DND -  Down in the dungeon with the DM

Alaska in 10B is one of the Dungeon Masters during D&D in Active Learning on Fridays. She has a group of students who tune in each week to see what else is in store for their characters in a world that Alaska has poured a lot of time and effort into creating.

Dave: “Alaska, tell me about your campaign”

Alaska: “It is a made up fantasy world set around the industrial era. It started around a crew on an airship trying to see how many people were left after a plague wiped across the world, but they crash landed and now they're trying to find civilisation again. We’ve lost several people to all sorts of things, one of our founding members unfortunately died in the airship crash saving their brother, a person killed themselves while playing the brother of that deceased person on the airship and today I was just following two party members, they found a town, they have been interacting with people and have stopped at a motel.

Dave: “Well it sounds like you have put a lot of thought into this, how do you go back creating the world and the story and characters?”

Alaska: “I really liked the aesthetic of airships, the industrial age and swords mixed together, and then I got inspiration from my friend who came up with the idea of a plague based on parasites that infest a person and slowly take control of them and spread like that. I combined the ideas and originally it was essentially going to start with the airship crash, but then I built out more of a plot among the airship, then after the crash landing I built out a lot of the surrounding world and what's really helped me make each area is I like to make a play list which essentially each song encapsulates one moment in their journey through that place, and then with characters I often just fill in the blank of something I want to have, I try to do art on them and whatever happens that becomes the character and then I give them a voice usually in the moment and then it sticks.”

Dave: “Do you have a set path you want the campaign to go or are the players derailing your plans? How are you coping with it?”

Alaska: “I really love how much they derail everything because it means it is stretching my creativity, and the way I built out the world I have a path that I expect them to go down, but the world itself they can technically explore something completely in the wrong order if they wanted to. The biggest issue I've been having is party members reaching a location and then getting stuck there.

Dave: “Do you have any tips for anyone that wants to create their own world?”

Alaska: “The joy is in the creation, a lot of people use pre-made campaigns and they try to run with them. I think it's way better for your creativity if you just find your aesthetics you really like and then try to tell a story out of that, and if you come up with a compelling start idea and then make a few surrounding things in the world, like different factions and locations that you really like, the idea of then you can slowly explore them through stories that grow from those foundations. The joy of D&D is that you set up the story and the players tell the story.”

Dave: “Anything else you'd like to add?”

Alaska: “One of my favourite parts of it is making little knick knacks, small notes they find on dead bodies. various documents for in the wild. I really like making costumes. Every single Friday I come in some sort of military uniform, usually I come in the uniform that the starting party would have been wearing when they were on the airship.”

David Claridge
10A Advisor

Jewellery Making

We have enjoyed our Monday afternoons in Jewellery this term. Chain and wire rings have been popular items to make. Whilst working on our creations and improving our fine motor skills, we have also focused on engaging in conversations and building relationships with our group members. We have set personal goals on what we want to achieve throughout the term and linked them to our learning goals. 

Mel Tyson
Teacher Assistant

Music