As noted a few weeks back, my local library opted to bring me back on board to run its after-school TTRPG program. One weekly session is confirmed, with its first meeting happening on 22 January 2026; the possibility of a second starting up remains, although interest and enrollment have yet to be determined at this point. For now, sessions are scheduled through the end of April; I can hope that things will extend past that point, but I cannot count on them doing so. Whether they do or not, however, I am grateful for the continued opportunity to live the dream: earning money for running a game. Being able to legitimately claim to be a professional DM is a nice thing, indeed.

There are some things to note about the renewed gaming. One is that I am working to do as has been requested of me and integrate more overtly educational materials. The 22 January meeting, in addition to taking care of some required bookkeeping (leveling up a character takes a little bit, especially for still-new players), attended to some discussion of narrative structures. For the sake of convenience and ease, I worked largely from Freytag; experience suggests that his narrative arc structure is likely to be presented to students in middle and high school, and students at that age are the participants in the game I’m running at the library. We did talk a bit about how the pilot program and its short adventure fit into it, and the shift from a fundamentally one-off adventure into a longer campaign received some attention. I think we’ll revisit the topic at intervals across sessions; I think, too, that we’ll talk a bit about character- versus plot-driven stories and the continuum or spectrum between them.

Another thing to note about the renewed gaming is that it is the first time in a long time that I am working from published adventure materials. One of the holiday traditions my family observes is that of Jólabókaflóð, giving each other books and sitting around reading them; my wife bought me a gaming supplement, having heard me talk about the need to come up with materials for the game I am running for the library. The current plot works from a selection out of that book; I have done a bit of massaging on the front end of it to offer a way into that story that makes sense against the previous games, but after the added prelude, the game will more or less follow the printed materials. Such materials are meant for such use, so I do not feel badly for making such use of those with which I have been provided. But it is an unusual thing for me to do; most of the game-running I have done, I have done a lot more work to generate. How it will work out in the longer term, I do not know, but I look forward to finding out.

So much said, the pre-printed materials have led me to an idea (something else to note about the renewed gaming, in the event). Working from what is on the page, I find that there are some fairly obvious hooks for further development. Without going into too much detail, because it is possible that my players might take a look at what I have here (hi, kids!), I can note that there are references to things in the pre-printed materials that are not developed elsewhere that I know about. This means that there are things for me to develop, using not only the springboard of the pre-printed materials to get started, but also feedback from players, to flesh out the milieu in which we, together, will tell the lies our rolled dice suggest.

One other thing, and related: I mean to start to develop my players as game-runners, themselves. I will not always be on hand for them, alas, and I might well want to play as a player, myself. Both require that there be someone else ready to run a game, and getting someone or some people ready to do so takes some time. Best to start early, right?

As matters progress, I will, of course, be making more comments here. I might well also read those that get left by my readers along the way…

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