DND Club in Dubai · a short guide for parents
Your child wants to play Dungeons & Dragons
D&D is a game of shared storytelling. A few friends sit around a table with pencils, paper and dice and invent an adventure together. No screens and no winners or losers. The whole group succeeds or fails as a team.
- Dubai
- Ages 12+
- In person, no screens
- Games in Russian
- A club from Amsterdam
- First game free
Children have a page of their own, with a die to roll and a “Who is your hero?” quiz. Teenagers can sign up there themselves: dndclub.fyi/play (in Russian).
What it actually looks like
One person, the Dungeon Master, describes the scene. Each player says what their character does. When the outcome is uncertain, a die decides. Here is a typical thirty seconds at the table:
The rope bridge over the canyon creaks. Half the planks look rotten. On the far side, a goat is stuck on a ledge and bleating.
My ranger tests each plank with her staff before stepping on it. Can I do that?
Good idea. Roll a d20 and add your Wisdom bonus.
You find the three bad planks and step over them. You're across. Now, about that goat…
The d20 is a twenty-sided die. Adding a small bonus is quick mental arithmetic, done dozens of times a session without anyone calling it maths.
Who does what
The Dungeon Master
Narrator and referee. Prepares the story, voices the other characters and keeps the game fair. In a kids' group this is usually an adult.
The players
Usually 3 to 6. Each plays one character with a name, a personality and a sheet that lists what they are good at.
The adventure
Explore a ruin, solve a riddle, negotiate with a grumpy troll, rescue someone. A session lasts 2–3 hours, and a story can continue over several meetings.
What children get from it
- Real friends, face to face
A group of kids around one table, talking, laughing and looking forward to the next game. For a child who has just moved to a new country, this is often the fastest way to build a circle.
- Teamwork
Nobody wins alone. The group has to listen, share ideas and agree on a plan before the clock runs out.
- Speaking up
Every player has to describe what they do, out loud, to the group. Shy children find this easier through a character.
- Reading and numbers
Character sheets, rules and clues all have to be read. Dice rolls and bonuses are constant small sums.
- Quick thinking
The story keeps throwing up surprises, and the group has to decide what to do right now. Children learn to react fast and keep a cool head.
- Creative problem solving
Most problems have no single right answer. A clever plan or a kind word often works better than a fight.
- Empathy
Playing someone with a different background, temper or fears means thinking about how other people see the world.
Research on this is young, but encouraging. In 2023 the Seattle education research group Foundry10 and the nonprofit Game to Grow studied 10–14-year-olds playing D&D weekly in groups led by trained game masters and reported growth in communication, collaboration and perspective-taking. Similar small programmes at universities and hospitals in the US and Canada use the game to help teenagers practise social skills.
How the first game goes
- The children meet the Dungeon Master and each other.
- Everyone picks a ready-made character: a ranger, a wizard, a fighter or someone else.
- Together they set off on a short adventure with riddles and surprises.
- At the end they talk about how it went and decide whether to play again.
Nothing to buy, read or learn in advance. No need to know fantasy or be good at acting: the Dungeon Master explains everything as the game goes.
Questions parents usually ask
Isn't it about magic and demons?
D&D is fantasy in the tradition of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter: knights, elves, dragons and wizards. Magic in the game is a set of rules, like a superpower in a comic. Today it is one of the most popular hobbies among teenagers, with a family film in 2023 and clubs in schools and libraries around the world.
The Dungeon Master chooses what goes into the story. In a children's game we keep to adventure, exploration and puzzles, and we respect every family's faith and values.
Is it violent?
There are fights with monsters, as in any adventure story, but they happen in words and dice rolls. Nothing is described in graphic detail. Many problems are solved by talking, sneaking or thinking. For a children's table the tone is closer to a family film than to a video game.
Dice — is it gambling?
No. Nobody bets anything and there is no money or prize. A die only decides whether a character's action in the story succeeds: jumping a stream, talking a guard round, finding a hidden door. What to try is always the players' own idea.
Isn't this just more screen time?
The opposite. Our sessions are played in person at a table, with paper character sheets, pencils and dice. Phones stay in bags.
How much time does it take?
A session is about 2–3 hours, at an agreed time, like a chess club or a music lesson. Many children start reading fantasy books, writing their own stories and drawing their characters between sessions, which most parents count as a plus.
What age is it for?
We invite children from 12. By then they can take turns, cope with a setback and read a character sheet. Teenagers are the game's core audience. What matters more than age is a good group and a Dungeon Master who keeps the table friendly.
Does it cost anything?
The first game is free. The Dungeon Master brings the dice, ready-made characters and, above all, the whole story of the adventure, which takes many hours to prepare. After that there is a small fee. We are not doing this to earn money: the fee only covers the Dungeon Master's time to prepare and run the game. If your child loves it, a set of dice of their own costs less than a paperback.
Where and when are the games?
At home or another quiet place, in Russian. We are choosing between Damac Hills, Dubai Hills and JBR/Marina and will decide by the replies: the first table goes where most families are. A session lasts 2–3 hours, and we agree the time together.
Who supervises?
An adult runs every game and looks after both the story and the table.
How you can help
- Say yes to a first session and see how your child comes home.
- Ask about their character. Who are they, what happened, what will they do next time? Kids love to tell it.
- Help with organising, if you like. We are new in Dubai and any help means a lot: coordination, a place to play, introductions to other families. Tick it in the form below.
Who we are: DND Club
DND Club started in Amsterdam. We are a family with a 13-year-old daughter, and there we spent a year running games for her friends and other families we knew, sometimes at three tables at once. The Amsterdam club still plays today. We have recently moved to Dubai and want to build the same circle here.
The first games are run by mum, who has many years of teaching experience and plenty of D&D behind her. We also know other experienced Dungeon Masters who miss playing and are ready to run tables for teenagers.
Why DND Club? Most people read DND as Do Not Disturb. That suits us: phones are put away while we play, and the players really are best left undisturbed.
Count us in
There is no date or place yet: first we want to see how many families are interested and what suits them. Let us know, and we will tell you when the first table is ready. Your child can also sign up on their own page.
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If you want to read more
- Benefits of Dungeons and Dragons for kidsTabletop Gaming magazine, 2024. A parent describes what the game gave her son.
- Can D&D help youth build social skills?GeekWire, 2023. On the Foundry10 and Game to Grow study.
- Is D&D right for my kid?Nerdarchy, 2018. An educator on readiness, shy children and siblings.
- Inside the magical world of Abu Dhabi's D&D groupThe National, 2022. Players right here in the UAE.