D&D Camp?

[Rechan]

From what I understand, there are Summer Camps that are designed to get kids involved in various things. There are computer camps, even chess camps.

Has anyone ver heard of an RPG-focused camp for kids/teens?

 

[Nytmare]

I spent several summers as a child at a day camp that offered D&D as a "class" choice. We played Keep on the Borderlands, Quest for the Heartstone, and The Veiled Society.

 

[Wycen]

I believe Black Diamond Games has run a summer boot camp for DnD.

Also Dr. Comics and Mr. Games has a role playing workshop with a DnD camp, I think. Maybe it was an after school meeting, but it has been some time since reading their pamphlet.

Both of these are in a brick and mortar location. A "camp" out in the woods or park is something I've heard about, but not seen.

 

[nedjer]

FLGS that offer game and fantasy art 'camps' can tap into the relatively lucrative childcare market

 

[SteelDraco]

WotC had Magic and D&D camps for two or three years, ending in 1999. It was a week-long camp - campers stayed at the University of Washington and walked to the WotC game center in the University district. The mornings were spent in the arcade there, or on the networked gaming computers or BattleTech pods. Afternoons and evenings were spent playing or talking about the game in question. A couple of times a week, someone from WotC would come lead a discussion on the weekend.

It was a neat program, but apparently not too profitable - I attended the D&D GameCamp in 1998, and was a counselor for the summer of 1999. That was the last year of the program.

 

[Morrus]

Conventions largely fill that role, don't they?

 

[Umbran]

Conventions largely fill that role, don't they?

I don't think so. For one thing, conventions are far too short for the purpose, and usually require extensive travel to reach. For another, conventions are largely mixed-age, rather than same-age-group experiences for kids, which is pretty important for the social aspects of the activity.

And, lastly, my own experience is that while parents will send kids to summer camp for activities that the parent isn't involved in, generally the kids I see at cons are there with their parents - so the parent is also a con-going kind of geek. And the kid with a gamer parent doesn't need a camp to introduce them to the game.

 

[OnlineDM]

This apparently exists, as Dungeons Master has had some posts from a D&D camp counselor:

Confessions of a D&D Camp Councilor ? Dungeon's Master
More Confessions of a D&D Camp Councilor ? Dungeon's Master
Confessions of a D&D Camp Councilor: Year II ? Finding the Ideal DMs ? Dungeon's Master
More Confessions of a D&D Camp Councilor: Year II ? Dungeon's Master
Confessions of a D&D Camp Councilor: Year II ? Best Bits ? Dungeon's Master

 

[Rechan]

This is the D&D camp in that article: Harbourfront Centre - Summer Camps - A - Z

Also I found this, but it was back in the 80s. The camp was done on a college campus for teens.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Every summer camp I went to as a kid had D&D as an informal activity. Typically one of the most enthusiastic / geeky counselors was the DM, although sometimes the campers DM'd themselves (er, you know what I mean).

This was either before the "D&D is evil!" scare, or concurrent, but no one cared about that. (My memory is a little fuzzy.) I think the camp administrators were more worried about whether any campers would drown in the swimming pool, or set the woods ablaze while building campfires, than they were if we pretended to be elves fighting dragons.