Casualties, victories, and a big black dragon: The Teacher Trials, led by seniors Nick Riconisciuto and Matthew Krysinski on Dec. 12 at West Chicago Community High School, was a success.
The Teacher Trials were put together by Riconisciuto and Krysinski for their National Honor Society (NHS) project, where they served as Dungeon Masters (DMs) for a Dungeons & Dragons game. Six teachers — Healy Rodman, Leslie Fireman, Nicholas Caltagiorne, Marissa Janiszweski, Michael Princer, and Robert Beal — signed up for a D&D one-shot. Some of them had played when they were younger, and some had never heard of a D20 before.
The project had been in the works for nearly a year, and the boys donated all proceeds to The Trevor Project, an organization that supports LGBTQ+ youth and focuses on suicide prevention.
“I trust them, and it’s a really, really cool cause…a lot of the D&D community tends to be centered around a lot of that same sort of sense of identity,” Riconisciuto said. “It’s a game fundamentally about self-expression, and we’re donating the money to a charity that is about protecting that certain right to self-expression.”
The boys said they did not face many obstacles other than procrastination and were met with a lot of support.
The game started with an introduction of the group’s characters, and it follows a party called Magistri. According to the Dungeon Masters, the part had just finished slaying a dragon and were traveling home when they ran into trouble.
When the DM’s first asked the players to roll for initiative, the crowd erupted in applause, with some audience members even shouting, “They said the thing!”
Once their orders had been collected, Janiszweski rolled first, rolling a 12, which missed the target. The DMs rolled next, hitting Caltagirone with a 21; he ended up taking five slash damage. When Rodman rolled next, she hit the target with a total of 32 damage, succeeding with the first casualty of the battle.
The DM then rolled a “Nat 20,” meaning that the move would cause the most damage, and Caltagiorne took five damage. Princer rolled and missed the target. The battle continued, with an inevitable victory for the party.
Later, the group was arrested for murder, which made Janiszweski very unhappy, as she expressed to the members of her party. Shortly thereafter, while attempting to learn more about the alleged murder, the party met a character named Slick, played by Krysinski, who helped them to the throne room only after being threatened by Caltagiorne.
The party went undercover, sending Fireman to talk to the king. In doing so, they discovered the king was actually the brother of the dragon the party slayed, and a black dragon himself. It was clear the party had to slay the dragon to survive, and they were asked to roll for initiative. A multi-round battle ensued, with damaging hits on both sides.
However, the game ended with the party eating the dragon to celebrate their win, and the coronation of Slick as the new king.
Overall, the event was a success, with the boys raising over $500 total by the end of their project. With the success of their leadership initiative, a new Dungeons & Dragons club will soon be starting at WEGO.
“If you do start playing, I would say: go for it. I feel like you can be held back if you think about it too much,” Krysinski said.
