About the Class
Dungeons & Dragons is a collective storytelling game played with friends, with dice deciding what you can and can't do. In this class, you build a character and go on an adventure.
What makes this particular game different is that we pause along the way to write. What if the scene we just experienced had gone a different way? Your character didn't say anything during that moment, but what were they thinking? This class provides the chance for that to happen - to have the writing influence the game and the game to influence the writing.
Why Run a Class Like This?
"A lot of traditional creative writing courses follow a formula of 'silence and critique' — you hand out your story and people tell you what they like and don't like, and you just sit there and take it in. There's nothing wrong with becoming a better critic. But it always struck me as odd that teachers never let a room full of creative writers be creative.
That's where this game comes in. Instead of talking about the story, we get to act it out — as if we're all there, as if it's happening in that very moment. A room full of writers building something together, out loud, in real time. I've been running it for over three years, and that shift — from talking about something to pretending we're actually there — almost always works."
What You'll Learn
How to develop dynamic, believable characters through roleplay
How to write fiction that responds to a story as it unfolds
How to collaborate with others in building a shared narrative world
How to transform in-game moments into prose — sharpening voice, structure, and emotional clarity
What People Have Said
I'm really grateful to Evan for inspiring me to build well-rounded, 'in-motion' characters in a whole new way.
I had a lot of fun playing D&D with a great group of creatives and storytellers and picked up some new improvisation and roleplay tools to assist me in crafting characters.
Evan was enthusiastic, warm, approachable, and thoughtful... I could have done 8 more weeks of this class series!
I appreciated how he took all of our input about what we wanted to get out of the class to heart.
Further Reading & Watching
A few things that inform how we think about this class:
- Keegan-Michael Key Has the Perfect Metaphor for Improv — The Off Camera Show, 2017
- Adventuring Academy: Creating Rounded Characters (With Lou Wilson) — Dimension 20, 2019
Sessions & Pricing
Current Sessions
Every Wednesday, 6:30–8:00PM EST. New time slots available on request. You're welcome to join a currently running session.
Pricing
$70–100/month, depending on what works for you and yours. First session is always free. No one turned away for lack of funds.