Welcome to Roadworthy! This is a chance to show off a Road Crew Judge and allow them to share their experience and wisdom. We provide these profiles to help provide insight into their personality and style, and maybe give up-and-coming Judges some advice on improving their game.
This week we chat with Jef Wallace, and talk about introducing young gamers to DCC and the fun of tangible player aids.
- Name/Alias: Jef, but all of his college friends still call him“Wally”.
- Number of Games Run (So Far): 22 (this year).
- Alignment: Chaotic Good.
- Favorite Monster: Umber Hulk, or Xorn.
- Coffee or Tea? Tea! Chai or Hibiscus.
- Art Medium of Choice: Copic markers.
For students in Jeffrey Wallace’s gaming club, school isn’t just for studying—there’s also delving into dangerous dungeons, slaying monsters, and (hopefully) coming out with enough gold to secure their legacy as tried and true adventurers.
Jeffrey Wallace is a high school art teacher who brings the excitement of Dungeon Crawl Classics and other tabletop RPGs to his students in the form of an after-school club. However, his interest in tabletop gaming goes back much further than the club’s origins. Like many fans of DCC, Jef got his start with tabletop RPGs in the early days of the hobby.
“I grew up in Iowa, and I lived way out in the country,” Jef said. “This is like 70’s, early 80’s. So pre-computer internet, no contact basically.”
While Jef’s hometown was small, he attended a larger school system where he was able to meet students from the surrounding area. Some of these students already had access to and were playing games like Dungeons & Dragons.
“That’s kind of where I picked it up: from other kids in junior high and it sort of passed on,” Jef said. “And then I spent a lot of time in the basement. Not a lot of options for players and stuff. So I did a lot of solo adventuring, or I put together little games with my sisters. And then in high school, and in college, I played a lot more.”
Jef’s current group, which has stuck together for over 15 years, started off with first and second edition Dungeons & Dragons before beginning to branch off into other games. Eventually a friend brought DCC to the table, sparking Jef’s interest in the game system.
“I got to check out the books that he had on hand and I thought [DCC] was interesting and a little bit more fun-feeling than some of the other…systems that we were doing,” Jef said.
Now, DCC is a common sight at the gaming club in the high school where Jef teaches. Due to the club’s popularity, Judge Jef can usually be found running an adventure, while one or two other tables are full of students leading their own tables.
“I would start [freshman] on Dungeon Crawl Classics,” Jef said. “And then if they moved on and did other things, that was cool, but it was a good starting point to get the kids that were kind of fresh to gaming or the high school setting.”
Jef takes influence in how he runs games from the primary Judge of his friend group, Jim, who he praises for “constantly changing and trying new things.”
For example, one of the ways that Jef puts his own flair on games is through providing tangible items in the form of art cards. Art cards include a printed or even hand-drawn picture alongside the name and attribute of important items that players can find in-game. Introducing these item cards is an exciting way for his students to have a piece of the world in hand.
“Giving [students] this card becomes like, oh man, they go nuts and they fight over it,” Jef said.
“And if and when somebody goes down, it is a scramble to pick up the other person’s stuff, but they really like the tangible stuff, and a lot more ownership is involved. [It’s] not easy to forget when they’re holding the card and things like that.”
Going forward, Jef plans to promote the club through events like funnels where surviving players receive prizes. He also hopes to be able to secure a bulletin board to help advertise the club, dedicating it as space for students to post their player characters’ biographies and other achievements.
