Part 2 of: What if the Kids get Jonathan and Steve to play DnD with them
When they were alone, Robin dragged a chair next to him and opened the D&D Player’s Handbook like it was sacred text.
“Okay,” she said. “First question. What kind of hero do you want to be?”
“I don’t know,” Steve muttered.
“That’s fine. We’ll reverse engineer it.” Robin announced.
They worked on it for over an hour.
Robin explaining mechanics with dramatic hand gestures. Steve asking quiet, careful questions.
He didn’t understand the terminology at first, proficiency bonuses, saving throws, spell slots, but he understood the shape of things.
Paladin. Oath of Heroism. Aasimar.
“Radiant damage?” he read slowly.
“Light,” Robin said. “Holy. Divine.” Steve made a face. “What?” she asked.
“Nothing.” was his short answer. She noticed it anyway.
When they finally finished, Steve stared at the character sheet. It looked official. Legitimate. He still wasn’t sure how.
“Don’t let them tell you what you are,” Robin said casually as she packed up the book. “You picked this.”
Steve nodded, but didn’t say anything.
The next evening, WSQK felt different. More structured. The folding table had been cleared. Chairs pulled close. Dice laid out like offerings.
Robin arrived carrying a thick rulebook under one arm and a notebook stuffed with loose pages under the other. The kids came in with full folders.
Actual folders. Dustin’s had tabs. Lucas had color coding. Mike’s had at least three printed pages stapled together. Will’s was neat, precise, handwritten.
Jonathan brought a smaller folder, worn, simple, but clearly prepared.
Steve walked in with a single sheet of paper folded in half. He immediately felt stupid.
He hadn’t even thought to bring anything else. He sat down quietly. Dustin glanced at his paper. “That’s it?”
Steve shrugged. “It’s a character.”
Dustin made a small noise but didn’t push.
Robin raised a hand before anyone could touch the dice. “Hold on,” she said. “We start with a session Zero.”
Mike groaned immediately. “You made that up.”
“No,” Robin said calmly. “Real DMs do this.” she held one of the books up, that she had been studying almost the whole night.
Dustin squinted suspiciously. “What’s Session Zero?”
Robin leaned back in the chair.
“It’s where we figure out who your characters are before we start murdering them.”
Lucas nodded slowly. “Fair.”
Steve looked relieved. “Good. Because I still don’t understand half of this.”
Robin pointed at him. “Perfect. We are doing Session Zero. Let's start with rolling stats.”
Robin set the rulebook down with ceremony.
Bags were opened and dice were dumped across the table. Plastic clattered against plastic. Steve stared at them.
There were more shapes than he expected. Sharp little pyramids. Fat cubes. Things that looked like tiny gemstones.
“Which one is which?” he asked.
Dustin showed him a d20 without looking up. “That’s the twenty. You’ll need it a lot.”
Mike grinned slightly. “for the stats, Roll 4d6, drop the lowest.”
Steve blinked. “In English?”
Lucas leaned over and showed him. “Roll four six-sided dice. Ignore the lowest number. Add the other three.”
Everyone else started picking through their dice automatically. Steve didn’t move.
Robin noticed immediately. “What?”
Steve rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t… have any.”
Dustin blinked. “Dice?”
Steve gestured vaguely at the table. “Yeah. I didn’t exactly grow up with a dragon hoard of math rocks.”
Lucas slid a couple toward him, but Jonathan stopped him. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small cloth pouch. It was faded blue. The drawstring frayed at the ends.
Jonathan loosened it and poured a small set of dice into his palm. Translucent amber plastic. The numbers were filled with black wax. He held them out.
Steve looked at them. Then at Jonathan. “You sure?”
Jonathan shrugged a little. “I have another set.”
That was technically true. Well he had at least three or four… maybe more. But this one had been his first and most beloved one.
Steve hesitated before taking them. They were lighter than he expected. “Thanks,” he muttered.
Jonathan nodded once and looked back at his character sheet.
Across the table Dustin leaned over to Lucas and whispered loudly: “Holy shit. Steve Harrington just got adopted by a dice goblin.” Lucas elbowed him.
Steve rolled the d20 once just to feel it.
The die bounced across the table and landed on nineteen.
Dustin groaned dramatically. “Of course it did.”
Steve proceeded to do what the kids told him. He rolled the 4d6. They scattered across the table. “Sixteen,” Mike said quietly after counting.
Steve looked surprised.
“That’s good,” Will confirmed.
Dustin rolled his eyes. “Of course he rolls high again.”
Steve rolled again. And again. The numbers stacked up. Not genius-level. But solid. Durable. Reliable.
Steve looked down at his sheet.
Strength: high. Charisma: high. Wisdom: better than he expected. Constitution: strong. Intelligence: low…
He felt that. He felt like someone who didn’t know the rules. Beside him, Jonathan closed his folder carefully and glanced sideways.
“You rolled well,” he said quietly.
Steve shrugged. “It’s just dice.”
Jonathan held his gaze for a second longer than necessary. “Yeah,” he said. “It is.”
Next they picked their spells. Dustin leaned over Steve’s sheet to have a quick look at his spells. “Okay you need something useful.”
Steve frowned. “I picked something useful.”
Dustin squinted. “Compelled Duel?”
Steve shrugged. “It makes the monster fight me instead of you guys.”
There was a pause. Lucas nodded once. “…that’s actually pretty good.”
Across the table Jonathan quietly wrote Sanctuary onto his spell list.
Dustin noticed anyway.“What does that one do?”
Jonathan shrugged. “It discourages enemies from attacking someone.”
Dustin stared at him. “That’s the most Jonathan spell imaginable.”
Robin grinned and flipped to a clean page in her notebook.
“One more thing,” she said. Mike groaned again.
“Relax,” Robin said. “It’s fun.” She pointed at the table. “we are not finished yet. I wanna hear Rumors.”
Dustin lit up immediately. “Oh hell yes.”
Robin continued. “Every character has a rumor about them. Something people say about them.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow. “And the truth?”
Robin smiled slightly. “That’s the fun part.”
She looked at each of them in turn. “You only tell the rumor.”
Mike groaned. “Why?”
“Because stories travel faster than people,” Robin replied. “And rumors are fun. You secretly tell me if it's true or not.”
Robin flipped to a clean page in her notebook and tapped the pencil against the table. She reached into her Dice bag and pulled out a small stack of scrap paper. She tore them into smaller squares and passed them around the table.
“Here’s how it works,” she said. “Each of your characters already has a rumor floating around about them.”
Mike leaned back slightly. “Like what people say they’ve done.”
“Exactly,” Robin said. “You say the rumor out loud.”
She held up a finger. “But on the paper you secretly tell me if it’s true, false, or… complicated.”
Jonathan frowned. “Complicated?”
Robin smiled faintly. “You’ll figure it out.”
She pushed the pencil across the table.
“Write it down. Fold it. Give it to me. Only the dungeon master knows the truth.”
Dustin bounced in his chair. “This is the best mechanic ever.”
Robin pointed at him. “Congratulations. You’re first.”
Dustin cleared his throat dramatically and sat up straighter. “Fizzwidget Geargrin,” he announced, “Rock Gnome Bard, College of Lore.”
Lucas muttered, “Of course.” Dustin ignored him and continued. “They say Fizzwidget once outsmarted a wizard in a debate about magical theory.”
Mike snorted. “That sounds fake.”
Dustin scribbled something quickly on his paper, folded it in half, and slid it across the table toward Robin. She took it without looking and dropped it behind her notebook.
Lucas shrugged and leaned forward. “Kaelen Nightpath. Half-Elf ranger.”
He glanced down at his sheet. “They say Kaelen can walk through a forest without making a single sound.”
Will looked impressed. Lucas wrote something down and handed the paper over. Robin added it to the growing stack.
“Good,” she said. “Next.”
Mike straightened in his chair. “Aldric Valeward,” he said. “Human paladin, Oath of Devotion.”
Dustin muttered under his breath, “Called it.”
Mike ignored him. “They say Aldric once stood alone against a band of highwaymen and refused to move until they surrendered.”
Dustin rolled his eyes. Mike folded his note and passed it across.
Robin collected it with the others.
Will spoke next, quieter but steady. “Elaris Thistleveil,” he said. “Half-Elf druid.”
His fingers traced the edge of the paper for a second.
“They say animals trust Elaris more than they trust other people.”
Dustin tilted his head. “That one’s creepy.”
Will smiled faintly and wrote his answer down.
Robin added the folded square to the pile.
Jonathan shifted slightly in his chair. “Marek Ashfall,” he said. “Tiefling and Cleric of Avandra.”
He hesitated for a moment before telling the rumor. “They say if Marek is standing at a crossroads, it means someone’s fate is about to change.”
The table went quiet for a second.
Dustin whispered, “That’s metal.”
Jonathan wrote something on the slip of paper and passed it over.
Robin tucked it beneath the others.
That left Steve. Robin looked at him expectantly. Steve rubbed the back of his neck.
“Alright,” he said. “Caelum Brightshield.”
Dustin grinned. “ This sounds like a shampoo brand.”
Steve ignored him. He glanced down at his sheet. “They say Caelum once fought an ogre alone and lived to tell the tale.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow. Mike looked impressed.
Robin tilted her head. “And?”
Steve shrugged helplessly. Dustin burst out laughing and nearly fell out of his chair. Steve scribbled something quickly onto his paper, folded it, and slid it across the table.
Robin added it to the pile.
Then she gathered all the slips and tucked them behind the DM screen, the truth of six different stories now hidden from everyone except her. She looked around the table slowly.
Dice waiting. Character sheets filled. Rumors already spreading.
“Alright,” Robin said quietly. “Now we see what’s real.”
She flipped open her notebook. Inside were pages of cramped handwriting, arrows, half-erased diagrams, and a map drawn in thick black marker. She didn’t show it to them. Not yet. Instead she turned the map toward them.
Robin picked up a pencil and tapped it once against the table. The room quieted almost immediately. Dice stilled. Chairs scraped a little closer.
Outside, somewhere far down the street, a military truck rumbled past. Robin looked around the table.
Six players. Good, balanced party. She smiled faintly.
“Alright,” she said again. “Welcome to the campaign.”
Dustin bounced in his chair. “Title?”
Robin flipped a page in the notebook. “The Shattered Compass.”
Mike nodded approvingly. Lucas leaned forward.
Will rested his chin on his hands. Jonathan watched the map. Steve watched Robin. He still wasn’t sure what the hell he did here, but the kids looked all so happy right now, so that he thought it must be worth it
She reached across the table and nudged a single d20 toward the center.
“Before we begin,” she said, “there’s one rule I wanna tell you.”
Mike groaned quietly.
“Relax,” Robin said. “It’s an easy one.”
She pointed at the dice. “If something cool could happen, it might.”
Dustin grinned.
“If something terrible could happen,” she added, “it probably will.”
Lucas snorted. Mike muttered, “That’s not how probability works.” Robin ignored him.
She tapped onto the map. A coastline. Mountains. Forests.
And, marked in black ink near the center, a ruined structure.
“You are not heroes yet,” Robin said. Steve shifted slightly in his chair.
“You are travelers,” she continued, “on the road to a frontier town called Valecrest.”
Her voice had changed. Not louder. Just steadier.
“Three nights ago, a ruin appeared in the hills outside the village.”
Will’s pencil moved automatically across his notebook, sketching.
“Not discovered,” Robin clarified. “Appeared.”
Mike frowned. Dustin leaned in.
Jonathan’s eyes lifted from the map.
Robin tapped the ruin symbol with the pencil.
“Locals say the stone wasn’t there before.”
Lucas asked quietly, “Magic?”
Robin smiled. “Roll for arcana if you want to find out.” Mike grabbed his d20 immediately. “Seventeen.”
Robin tilted her head. “You’ve heard rumors,” she said. “Old ones. About gates.”
The word hung there. Steve didn’t know the mechanics yet. But he understood the shape of a story. Robin looked around the table again.
“Your characters don’t know each other yet,” she said. “You’re just travelers heading toward the same place.”
She paused. Then she looked at Steve. “Except you.”
Steve blinked. “What?”
Robin flipped another page. “You’re already there.” Steve stared at her. “Wait. I’m already there?”
Robin nodded. “In the hills outside Valecrest,” she said quietly, “a man stands in front of a ruin that shouldn’t exist.”
Dustin grinned. “Of course.”
Steve stared at her. “Why?”
Robin met his eyes. “You tell me.”
A helicopter passed overhead again.
bDice waited on the table.
And somewhere in a world that did not exist yet—
a gate was already opening.
The whole things is inspired by Critical role (because its running constantly in the background while writing) in this case its Campaign 2 so I guess there will be propably happen some caleb/essek tension in their game plus additional Jonathan/Steve tension in the end xD
@lexilexipoowhereareyou @saltshakergirl18 @tinaa-aas @mixateer
