Last updated: July 25, 2025
About this Page
Given this is a burgeoning specialization in the field, I think it's useful to keep all the resources I have in one publicly available place.
To mental health practitioners or others reading this but not otherwise familiar with this blog (which is mostly focused on my RPG design projects in a non-therapeutic context), feel free to contact me via comments on this blog.
Note: When I use the term "RPG", always assume I mean tabletop/"pencil and paper" role-playing games (i.e. not video games).
Books by Clinicians
Therapeutically-Applied Roleplaying Games - Elizabeth Kilmer et al
Tabletop Role-Playing Therapy - Megan Connell
Role-Playing Games in Psychotherapy: A Practitioner's Guide - Daniel Hand
Wizards, Warriors, & Wellness - Jack Berkenstock Jr. & Baron Blakely
Professional Conferences
TAGGS - next con: online, date TBD
GeekEd Con - next con: Rochester NY, July 18-19
Serious Play Conference - next con: Rochester NY, August 13-15
Joint Conference on Serious Games - next con: Rotkreutz, Switzerland, December 4-5
RPG Systems with Therapeutic Applications
The Quiet Year - GM-less; players collaboratively narrate a year in a post-apocalyptic community via answering prompts and adding to a map.
The Black Hack - Free, simple, and stylized OSR/"D&D-esque" game.
Old School Essentials - The exact same rules as Basic/Expert D&D (the high point of D&D design in my opinion), reformatted in one book for a modern audience.
One Shot World - A free, cleaned-up hack of Dungeon World. Thematically similar to D&D, but more narrative- than simulation-driven.
Unknown Armies - Uniquely models trauma in its game mechanics. Occult horror/urban fantasy. My favorite game, full stop.
Tales from the Loop - Coming-of-age adventures with some weird science thrown in. Uses the Year Zero Engine.
Monsters and Other Childish Things - Coming-of-age via kids with pet eldritch monsters. Uses the One Roll Engine.
Critical Core - Designed by Game to Grow for therapeutic use in social skills groups. Thematically similar to D&D.
My Brain is a Stick of Butter - A solo lyric game designed to emulate the experience of living with ADHD. Mechanics impose restrictions and distractions as you go through a week of your real life chores and obligations.
Blood Feud - Explicitly mechanizes toxic masculinity to critique and deconstruct it using the setting of viking-era Scandinavia.
Other Resources
Modeling Stress, Trauma, and Mental Illness in RPGs - my own writing; my thoughts have evolved since posting this in 2023, but it still has some good information.
Psychosisis Badly Written in Tabletop Games. - addresses some important concerns from the perspective of someone with lived experience, even if I'm not 100% in agreement with their conclusions.
Stars and Wishes - a great, easy tool for processing at the end of sessions
