Free Therapy in RPGs?

A Therapist Shares How Tabletop Role-Playing Games Provide the Same Conditions for Inner Healing that Play Therapy Does

You have probably heard of Dungeons & Dragons (commonly referred to as DnD), whether you meet up every week with a group of friends in a campaign, you have heard about it through friends who have gotten into it, you see the characters on Stranger Things playing the game, or have heard it referenced on a re-run of The Big Bang Theory. Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop role-playing game (RPG is the shorthand for this idea), where there you and a group of friends play out a storyline, using dice to decide how well your actions actually play out, working together to finish the tale.

It has been great to see over the years how this hobby has gained in popularity and general cultural appreciation, because it is actually really therapeutic! My therapist lens sees how it is an adult-friendly way to engage in the same healing that one gets through play therapy.

In non-directive play therapy, you are presented with a place to just act out what your heart desires, with toys and figurines, using your imagination. Play therapists believe that play is the natural way that children process their feelings, allowing them to work through metaphors to help them feel safe with topics or themes going on in their lives, and it gives them a sense of power, as they decide how the story goes. The therapist attunes to the play, perhaps deepening the experience with grand gestures or voices used when joining in as a character, they set some limits around safety and making sure the play doesn’t cross any boundaries, and the therapist provides a setting for the inner emotional processing to unfold.

In the tabletop game, a certain member of the group, the game master, provides the group with a setting and general outline for the story, attunes to the actions that the players take to help the story take shape, plays the villain or side character roles, sets guidelines for fair play and rules for the structure of the game, and helps everyone in the group feel safe and supported. You might notice how similar the game master role is to the therapist’s role in play therapy sessions. This role is vital for a good experience, so much so that people will sometimes pay to play in a game run by a skilled game master.

Now at the start, each player is asked to create a character, each with their own backstory, strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. Through a play therapy lens, this helps someone separate from their real life experience, giving them room to make different decisions or to be in a different role than they normally play in their everyday life. In therapy, doing so gives one space to explore darker emotional themes, providing freedom and a sense of power by getting to choose their experience. Funnily enough, It is pretty common in the tabletop RPG community to recognize that people with certain personality types prefer to play as certain character stereotypes. Perhaps this is just noticing common themes needing to be emotionally processed when these people present in a similar way in their day-to-day life?

Throughout the gameplay, while you are thrown into certain scenarios, you are given a lot of freedom about how you want to react. You can be serious, silly, creative, or downright unhinged in how you respond as your character. And the great part is, depending on how lucky you are, and your character’s strengths and weaknesses, it can actually work out. Even if it doesn’t, it still makes for a great story! In doing this, it can give a freedom to explore, not always make the logical choice, and just enjoy the moment. You and your fellow players get the chance to share in the fun, and that shared experience creates a bond.

More so than just playing board games or video games with others, tabletop RPGs allow one to cathartically feel the experience. Maybe you have a controlling boss at work, but you feel powerless to say or do anything that might upset her. You can play through a sense of powerlessness in a role-playing game, and then finally choose to bludgeon a controlling queen after she made a snide comment towards your character.

Overall, if you are looking for some inner healing, without the seriousness that is sometimes felt in traditional talk therapy, or in trauma therapy, embrace a free version of play therapy! You can find a lot of tabletop gaming groups at comic book stores, you could ask someone you know that already plays to invite you to join their group, or you can find plenty of RPGs to join online. Don’t worry if you don’t quite know what you are doing, there are plenty of groups open to newcomers, and everyone was a beginner once.

This picture was taken at Bookman’s over in Mesa, on Southern Ave. and Country Club Dr., and as you can tell, they have loads of tabletop gaming books and games to get you started learning more about the worlds already made for you to play in!