Introduction

This chapter contains case studies from five librarians in different settings and areas of the world including the UK, the United States and Australia. Each case study focuses on why they started a TTRPG club, what benefits they have seen from the club, what advice they’d give to other librarians hoping to start one and what they presented to leadership or management in order to get the club off the ground.

Case study 1: The Adventurers’ Club

Rebecca String, Public Librarian at the Naperville Public Library in Naperville, Illinois, and Vice-President of the Games and Gaming Round Table of the American Library Association

Why did you start a TTRPG club?

We started at the Naperville Library in 2018 and wanted to start a TTRPG programme from the outset as we’d had requests from patrons to start a club. It took some work to get the Adventurers’ Club off the ground.

What are the benefits of running the programme?

The kids have become friends through the group and have really come into themselves. It's a huge confidence builder. The librarians get to know the students and their characters, and they choose games that they know the kids will love. They select specific puzzles or storylines to help build a better programme.

For the kids to be able to interact with their friends, and seeing them blossom, has been very beneficial. To see a kid who doesn't contribute or is shy at first grow in confidence and show their creativity more and more as they visit the Club has been great to witness. We have received e-mails from the kids’ parents telling us how much they love the Club and what it means to them.

The Club works well for the library's planning and we have different players coming to the library all the time.

What advice would you give to others hoping to run the programme?

Larger games like D&D are too huge for this kind of set-up, so we run games like No Thank You, Evil!, Magical Kitties Save the Day, My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria and other one-page RPGS like Tiniest Wizard, Definitely Wizards.

We look for indie games where we can print off a single-page rule sheet. It doesn't require boxes and boxes of material, it's simply a one-page sheet of rules.