Review of Table Titans Club

Review of Table Titans Club, a graphic novel about a lvl 11 middle schooler finding D&D

Table Titans Club is a graphic novel by Scott Kurtz that follows the story of Valeria Winters as she, along with her wonderful imagination and short temper, moves to a new school and find friendship (and more than a little drama) through D&D!

*Note on spoilers: I talk about events that happen in the book so families and facilitators can evaluate for their kid’s reading material. This does mean there are spoilers in this post!

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Table Titans Club at a glance Format: A graphic novel taking place in a middle school and at the game table Themes: Friendship, being yourself Audience: Middle schoolers (and younger/older) Mood: Spunky, chaotic, and meaningful Lots of shenanigans and fun art

What is Table Titans Club all about?

Table Titans Club is a graphic novel about friendship, D&D, middle school, and being yourself! Valeria is a spunky character who gets looped into the school D&D club, saves the day via the wrestling team, and helps others open up about themselves by being herself too. There’s dice rolls, there’s conflicts with a bully that resolves in an interesting way, and there’s even an adult who needs to get over some D&D nerves.

Who would Table Titans Club be great for?

The main character in Table Titans Club is Valeria Winters, an 11 year old middle schooler who has a bit of trouble fitting in, mostly because she’s not going to be taking nonsense about popularity and whatnot from others. She is headstrong and is great at using her imagination to overlay a fantastical narrative onto everyday life.

All that said, I think the target audience is generally young folks in the tweens range but works great for other kids too. My kid is 6 years old and LOVES graphic novels… and REALLY loved this one. I also read this and thought it was fun and something that older kids could enjoy as well. There’s fun shenanigans, and it centers around D&D, so young readers, tweens, and teens who like D&D or other TTRPGs would very likely vibe with this.

How Table Titans Club teaches about D&D

In Table Titans Club, Valeria is new to the game of D&D, so she is learning, which gives lots of opportunities for her to describe the process herself or for other players to explain what’s going on. For example, they can all talk about character creation and some of the options, providing the reader with a nice overview to familiarize them with the game while still having it fluidly fit into the story. Same with explaining basic rolls or giving examples of game scenarios.

It also shows how a new player can bring a different perspective to the game and have that be a really good thing for teaching the other plaeyrs! Valeria approaches conflicts in the game differently from the veteran players, and things sometimes will turn out better because of that – she’s tough and not afraid to fight, but she’s also not going to fight just to hurt others, and this is something that’s reflected in her play style and lessons learned in her IRL adventures.

Our favorite parts of Table Titans Club

Kiddo’s favorite part was when a goblin character showed up and it was implied that the GM did a funny voice… and kind of freaked out another adult in the room! We do funny voices for our characters all the time, so we, of course, had to do it in the game. It sparked a good conversation too about how it’s OK to be playful even as an adult but that some adults are kind of afraid of that too.

My favorite part was when Valeria, faced with various challenges, would imagine herself turning into a bear – there’s some great art for these, and I got to do scary bear growls when reading with kiddo, which is always fun.

Overall thoughts on Table Titans Club

This is a fun graphic novel for kids readers who like D&D (or TTRPGs in general), it’s got some great life lessons, and it teaches about how to play D&D without being an instruction manual. We loved the art, and we enjoyed getting to read this book together (and kiddo enjoyed reading it solo). I’d recommend checking it out for your kids, whether they’re already into D&D and want more or if they’re just starting to get interested!

Find a copy of Table Titans Club

You can find a copy of Table Titans Club at your local bookstore or through Bookshop.org!

Looking for more TTRPG and D&D themed books? Check out my list of “TTRPG and D&D themed chapter books and graphic novels”!

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