The Tabletop Role-Playing Game (TTRPG) Club is just one of several clubs that Elmira High School offers on campus.
The club meets every other Friday after school in the library. Math teacher Jeff McCourtney is an adviser for the club along with fellow math teacher Krin Hunt, who volunteered to fill the role for Nicole McLaws after she left to take a job at the Fern Ridge Public Library.
The TTRPG Club is for any student interested in hanging out with peers while playing fun role-play games such as Starfinder and Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).
The main club rules are to be kind and respectful, and that whatever the game master says, goes, within the game, according to McCourtney.
Typically, the first 20 to 30 minutes are filled with students socializing and blowing off some steam from the day, then students break into three groups.
When the club first formed, students set up a small vote where each group decided which campaign they wanted to play. The choices were a pathfinder campaign in Starfinder with Nikita Rose as the game master (GM) or one of the D&D homebrew campaigns run by either Owen Lounsbury or Morgan Brakefield.
Twenty to 25 students participate in the club, according to McCourtney. Of those students, seven people play Lounsbury’s campaign, around 10 are part of Rose’s campaign, and five or six are playing Brakefield’s campaign.
A game master is someone who oversees game play during a campaign. Their responsibilities include organizing game play, ensuring that all players understand the rules, and moderation if there are any disputes. They are also in charge of connecting each player’s characters’ stories together in the overarching storyline of the campaign.
Lounsbury’s campaign is well past the first quest that he set up for them. Since he is the game master, he had to create all of the quests, the setting, the enemies, etc. He said he expects the campaign to last at least to the end of the year, if not longer. He said prefers to go with the flow when making his quests rather than planning it out in its entirety. He likes to let the group choose which path the campaign takes.
Rose’s campaign started last year during the peak of COVID-19 over Zoom. It started with about six people, fluctuating until this year with about 10 people. Given that they started last year, they are pretty far into the campaign.
Rose said his favorite quest so far has been when they had to board a colony ship that had been lost for more than 10 years and was infested with alien monsters.
“How I come up with quests is random,” Rose said. “I’m a quick thinker and make up quests on the spot for more possible outcomes in case the group feels creative in how they want to do them.”
Rose said doing that opens up more opportunities for the group to have silly moments and lets the players approach each quest in any way they choose.
Overall, the TTRPG Club is a place where students can relax, hang out with friends and let their creativity run wild.
