Do I need to know the rules before I play?
Nah, we’ll teach you as we go! The rules are more like guidelines, anyway.
Do I get to make a character in advance?
Nah, you’ll be building a new character with your Dungeon Master and with the whole team involved. This way, your character is guaranteed to fit the vibe, and no work will be wasted! You can bring your ideas and your imagination, but we build the characters together.
Do I need my own dice?
Not at first, no. We have shared dice that you can use at our games, for as long as you need to. If you have your own dice, you can bring them, but if you never buy your own set you’ll still be able to play.
Am I allowed to fidget or draw while we play?
Fidget toys are allowed, as long as they are quiet and used under the table and out of sight. Drawing is always allowed. The important thing is that we aren’t distracting other players, and we aren’t using our brains to do the fidgeting or drawing. The point of the fidgets or drawing is to help us stay present in the game!
Can I eat and drink at the table?
Yes! We provide snacks and access to water at all of our games. You can bring your own juice or soda, but we ask that it be in a bottle that can close!
Why should I pick Gamechangers League?
What makes Gamechangers League different from other kinds of extra-curricular activities, is that we have an excellent child:adult ratio, with a hard limit of five kids per Dungeon Master. We have a big focus on psychological safety, and we give kids opportunities to build relationships and get social experience in a safe space. We encourage creativity and joy, and we are particularly adept at helping quiet kids come out of their shells over time.
Why Dungeons and Dragons?
We love Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPGs) in general, but Dungeons and Dragons is the most popular, and it’s the one everyone has heard of! Any of these games are probably going to be great for our purposes. In any case, we use D&D to get kids feeling like heroes with a lot of agency in the world, to give them opportunities to be social in a tight-knit group every week, and to give them opportunities to use their imaginations and creative minds.
Is there a lot of digital stuff and screen time?
Not at our in-person games! We encourage kids to leave their phones and laptops in their bags, and everyone uses pen and paper. We do run a couple of online games, but it’s not our primary interest.
How much does it cost?
It depends on the venue, but typically we are looking at $40 per kid per game. We do payment in full before each school term, working out at $400 for the full term. We offer discounts for community-service card holders. This cost gets you a two-hour game each week, with a skilled and vetted Dungeon Master, and with snacks provided by a supervisor.
We also offer 10% off if you enrol more than one kid, and 10% off if you enrol a kid in more than one game per week.
Where do you run games? Is there a game near me?
We are currently running games in Central and West Auckland, Dunedin, and a little bit online. More information can be found here.
Do we need to provide a space for you to run games in?
Yes! Typically when we run for schools we will set up in a library or large classroom. We provide snacks but we prepare them fresh on the day, so we need access to a kitchen or kitchenette as well.
Are your Dungeon Masters vetted with police checks, and are they certified to work with kids?
We run police checks on our Dungeon Masters and vet them personally. We don’t require specific certifications for working with kids, but we have a high bar and a big emphasis on psychological safety.
Does your team have First Aid certifications?
We don’t require it of our Dungeon Masters, but there is always at least one person on-site with First Aid training.
You provide snacks. Do you accommodate for allergies and intolerances?
Yes; we log any allergies and intolerances and ensure the snacks we provide for those game days don’t include them, including packaged foods which contain (or may contain) traces.
Do we need to provide anything on the day?
On top of a space to play and a kitchenette, we need you to provide tables and chairs. If you only have impermanent tables and chairs, we are happy to set them up and pack them down as long as they are in the room.
Do you use any content produced by AI and LLMs?
We don’t use it as an organisation for any creative purposes such as storywriting or image generation, and we discourage its usage by our Dungeon Masters, but we do not outright ban it.
Do you let the kids use it?
We encourage kids to leave their phones and laptops in their bags when they play our games in-person, which naturally stops them from using it at the table. These games are about creativity, self-expression, and expanding our imaginations; all qualities that generative AI usage is typically incompatible with.