Category Archives: rpg discussions

Tabletop RPGs and the Satanic Panic

Tabletop RPGs have been a huge part of pop culture since the release of Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 (Noland, 2021). Players formed clubs and organized events. Even teachers used the games as part of education programs (Lancaster, 2004). But there has also been many misconceptions about these games over the decades (Hawkes-Robinson, 2014). ThereContinue reading “Tabletop RPGs and the Satanic Panic”

Session Zero and Safety Tools

There have always been divisive topics within the tabletop roleplaying game hobby: Tactical battle maps versus theater of the mind; XP or milestone progression; Should you fudge dice rolls? But none of these topics come even close to how riled up some people get about the mention of Sessions Zero and safety tools. I wouldContinue reading “Session Zero and Safety Tools”

Vampire: the Masquerade and the Attraction to Evil

Back in the 1990s, every college campus across America had groups of young men and women meeting in public locations while dressed like vampires. This wasn’t for cosplay conventions or Halloween parties, though. No, these people engaged in live action roleplaying (LARP). Mind’s Eye Theatre, the live action version of the roleplaying game Vampire: theContinue reading “Vampire: the Masquerade and the Attraction to Evil”

Tabletop Roleplaying Games in Therapy

Throughout spring of 2020, I, as well as a study partner, wrote a bachelor’s dissertation in social work that focuses on the use of tabletop roleplaying games in therapeutic treatment of individuals with mental illness and autism spectrum disorder. We interviewed six professional practitioners with experience using tabletop roleplaying games therapeutically, and we compared theContinue reading “Tabletop Roleplaying Games in Therapy”

What’s the deal with tabletop roleplaying games?

What are tabletop roleplaying games? What is a roleplaying game really? Everyone has their own ideas and frames of reference when it comes to roleplaying games and what that term means to them. There are tabletop roleplaying games, live-action roleplaying games, massively multiplayer online roleplaying games; all of these are roleplaying games but they areContinue reading “What’s the deal with tabletop roleplaying games?”