Last year YESS was approached by a brand new organization called Level Up Gaming League. They wanted to share their love of tabletop gaming and all its fun and benefits with our youth. They were connected with the youth at Shanoa’s Place for their very first Dungeons & Dragons campaign with YESS youth!

Level Up Gaming League believes that tabletop gaming has the power to create positive change in our community, and that by harnessing the power of gaming people can be empowered to build better futures for themselves. They provide gaming opportunities for organizations that support at-risk populations. With the groups they work with they encourage the social development of youth and adults through intentional gaming and build a culture of inclusivity, acceptance, creativity, and honesty.

The campaign at Shanoa’s Place took about four months to complete, with sessions held every second week. A few youth were really engaged from the beginning, and a few more participated here and there. All of the youth who participated enjoyed this new and creative experience.

YESS Youth Worker Dolphin noticed a number of new skills the campaign got our youth to practice. Dungeons & Dragons proved to be a powerful tool for teaching the link between choices and consequences. Challenges and riddles were opportunities for the players to cooperate and collaborate on solutions. And for an age group that’s used to the immediacy of video games, the switch to tabletop taught players to be patient.

YESS youth Jared loved the experience: “The Dungeons & Dragons program through YESS has been an exciting experience for me. It allowed me an opportunity to meet like-minded individuals and, best of all, live vicariously through my character. My favourite part for sure is getting to experience new ideologies, cultures, and even behaviours through the game. Dungeons & Dragons is so much more than just a pen and paper game, really, and I thank YESS for coordinating such incredible play sessions with the talented Dungeon Master Bryan Sali and his artistic accomplice, James.”

“Working at Shanoa’s Place has been an extremely rewarding experience for us,” says Bryan Sali, President of Level Up Gaming League. “What surprised us was the level of involvement from the staff who joined us at the table and who have become part of a team with the youth who live there. The adventuring party that joins us at our gaming table every other week is an amazing group of people who have worked together to solve problems and build an incredible collaborative story; and we have all learned a few things about ourselves, each other, and how to work together.”

The team from Level Up Gaming League is currently kicking off their second Dungeons & Dragons campaign with YESS youth! This summer they’ll also host tabletop gaming days at our Armoury Resource Centre for youth in our daytime program. Let’s get rolling!

Learn more about Level Up Gaming League!