DnD Really Is Therapy

Tabletop roleplaying games, or TTRPGs, are kind of like improv theater, but with some structured rules and an element of random chance.

It can be a lot of fun to gather around a friend’s table and tell a story together.

And it can be emotionally rewarding, too.

In fact, a lot of players like to joke that TTRPGs can be just as good as going to therapy.

And the therapists… they noticed. Not only that, but some of them agreed and started researching how to really, actually turn tabletop games into therapy.

For real. Here’s how.

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If you’ve heard of any TTRPG, it’s  probably Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D for short, with its  elves and dwarves and goblins.

And dungeons! And dragons! But there are actually a ton,  from D&D’s cousin Pathfinder, to spooky investigation games like Monster of the Week or Call of Cthulu.

Which is apparently not how  Lovecraft pronounced it.

Which is what we learned  while researching this video.

It is objectively Cthulu. I will fight anybody who tells me otherwise.

Then there’s the really niche  stuff, like a game that asks what it would be like to be an in all-female  Soviet night-flying bomber pilot squadron in World War II  called “The Night Witches” – which was actually a thing  that happened in history – and is also a roleplaying game.

They run the gamut, but what  most TTRPGs have in common is: that they are social experiences where players are communicating and cooperating.

In general, each player creates  their own custom character, and there’s some sort of narrative  story you’re all telling together.

And each player actively takes  part in shaping both their character’s story and the larger  narrative through roleplaying – that is, thinking through  whatever imaginary scenario is in front of them, whether it be an  angry dragon or a spooky mansion, imagining what their  character might think or feel, making decisions about what to do next… and then facing the imaginary consequences.

Besides being fun, there are  some scientific studies that suggest that engaging in this  kind of play can be good for you.