THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN WITH THE SWORD
In January 2020, we began a partnership with the talented teachers at Workshop Independent Middle School. The goal: utilize Dungeons & Dragons adventures to enhance students’ writing by immersing them in fantasy storytelling.
Our program soon became the stuff of legends!
Building upon our success, we’re launching a Writers Workshop this summer to help our young adventurers hone their writing chops and keep their pencils and minds sharp throughout the summer.
HEROES THAT QUEST TOGETHER, WRITE TOGETHER
For over 40 years, Dungeons & Dragons has influenced countless writers and creators, from comedian Stephen Colbert to author George R.R. Martin. D&D encourages imagination and creativity, whether you’re assuming the role of your fictional character or creating a fantasy world to host your heroic tale.
This summer, we’ll be harnessing that imagination and creativity to bring characters to life, build fantastical worlds, and enrich our writing with adventure and intrigue.
The Writers Workshop will feature week-long intensives focused on a different fantasy theme for our young writers to explore. At the end of each week, students will have written a polished, presentable piece of writing influenced by the week’s theme. We encourage students to attend multiple weeks, building upon their work and creating something truly epic!
Each week will concentrate on a different element of fantasy storytelling, drawing from examples the students are interacting with in their Online D&D adventures. This summer’s themes are:
Character Week – Bring your fictional characters to life by developing complex personalities and writing meaningful backstories.
World-building Week – Explore the necessary elements and unique characteristics that help establish extraordinary fantasy settings.
Monsters & Villains Week – Conjure up memorable monsters for your stories and dissect the intricacies of a compelling antagonist.
Magic & Technology Week – From powerful artifacts to clever gadgets, investigate the relationship (and consequences!) of the arcane.
Encounters & Scenes Week – Fine-tune your creature clashes and build suspense with meaningful dialogue and evocative descriptions.
DETAILS
LOGISTICS
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+ GETTING STARTED
Given the focus on developing students’ writing and working towards a polished, presentable piece, Writers Workshop can only be purchased in one-week increments. Parents are encouraged to book several weeks (as each week is a different theme).
+ FLEXIBLE TIMES
When booking online you'll be reserving a time-slot for your child to participate in the Dungeons & Dragons portion of the Writers Workshop with us.
The Writers' Workshop takes place from 1:00pm to 3:00pm M-F. In addition to the workshop portion, participants will need to pick a timeslot for their online Dungeons & Dragons session, either 10:00am until 1:00pm, M-F or 3:00pm until 6:00pm, M-F.
+ ROTATING WEEKS
The Writers Workshop weekly themes will rotate throughout the summer in order to best serve families and their oftentimes uncertain schedules. This means if your child is unable to attend the workshop two weeks in a row – which would mean missing out on say, Worldbuilding Week – there will be another opportunity later in the summer to make up for a missed theme. Huzzah!
+ CLASS STRUCTURE
In order to provide the maximum amount of support, we are limiting our Writers Workshop classes to 12 students per session. This ensures an attentive student-to-staff ratio and encourages a warm and inclusive environment for our young writers to grow in.
Students will meet for two-hour sessions Monday thru Friday for a total of ten hours of instruction time each week. After each days’ workshop concludes, there will be a short assignment given for students to complete at home.
PROGRAMMING
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+ Dungeons & Dragons
Brooklyn Game Lab has run tens of thousands of Dungeons & Dragons sessions. Our Dungeon Masters (DMs) give young questers a wondrous experience every day. But what we're most proud of is our methodology to run campaigns with any child of any age at any experience level. Whether it's your child’s first time playing or 1000th, we make sure it's engaging and welcoming.
In Dungeons & Dragons, kids create a fantasy character and then participate in a narrative story-telling exercise in groups of 3 to 6 kids. As a team, they work together to overcome whatever challenges our instructors throw their way. We’ve been able to use the experience of our staff and existing resources to create fantastic maps, characters, and - yes - even digital dice throws!
+ Multi-Week Workshops
We encourage students to register for multiple weeks to take advantage of all our Writers Workshop has to offer. Each week your child joins will see them dig deeper into their stories and enrich their worlds with more content.
For some, this may mean polishing and revising a short story throughout the summer. For others, each week will be a chance to write additional “chapters” in a larger story or project. Every student will have the opportunity to define the type of writing project they want to work towards.
+ Final Presentation
At the conclusion of each week’s session, students will present a polished piece of writing to share with their family and peers that highlights the lessons learned that week. For some weeks, such as Monsters & Villains Week, our students’ work may appear in future Brooklyn Game Lab D&D adventures.
+ ONLINE MERITS
Positive reinforcement and recognizing accomplishments is one of our key tenants. We’ve worked hard to not only bring our programming online but our system of merits, too.
Each child joining us this summer will accrue merits just as they would in the Lab. Their virtual folders allow students and parents to track progress during the summer. Once we return to the brick-and-mortar Lab, we’ll apply all awarded merits to kids' folders!