When I was playing in a campaign years ago, I created a character named Zig. Zig was a corrupt cop, more or less, and I created him because I wanted an outlet to explore my real-life issues with guilt. I thought by playing an inarguably troubled character would give me the space to work through both his guilt and mine. I worked with my DM, who provided plenty of roleplaying moments for Zig to become a better person. In game, Zig went from a drunken liability to a player favorite and emotional heart of the party. Out of game, I began to process my feelings of guilt with the same mindset that Zig learned: we accept and learn from our pasts so we can improve our collective futures. In the end, I advanced as a person because of what happened in our game, and I will always treasure that. My game experience was much greater than a simple adventure, and that lesson stuck with me.
Let's flash forward a handful of years. Recently, I was offering a guest lecture on TRPGs in a university class on Electronic Literature and Video Games. After the lecture and discussion, I got a private message from one of the students. They had been interested in TRPGs as a therapeutic tool, and when I had spoken about my use of Zig, they knew they wanted to discuss things further with me. We've been emailing for a number of months now, brainstorming ideas for how to construct a unique TRPG built around offering therapeutic experiences to players. We've ranged widely on what constitutes the framework of the game, and I will keep the details of the game private for my collaborator's sake, but I want to provide a general sense of what you can do to help your players through the game.
Before I go any further, let me place an enormous disclaimer here: unless you are a trained mental health professional, attempting to therapize someone is a delicate thing. If your players are dealing with serious issues or any kind of mental illness, they need real help. A session of helpful explorative gaming will not be enough to help them. Help them in getting help, and only try therapeutic TRPGs on small, nearly trivial issues. If the issue is something the player can live with day-to-day, feel free to explore it with the player at their comfort, but do not under any circumstances deal with real trauma this way. What I have worked on with my collaborator is based on heavy reading in the field of psychotherapy, and until that information is more distilled and ready for public consumption, it would be a mistake to jump in and overcommit to this idea. So if you have a willing player and the issue you're working on is minor, go forward, but be cautious.
The first step is in talking to your player about the issue. Try to gain an understanding of what the heart of the issue is: does the player lack confidence? Do they need practice dealing with conflict? Are they afraid to express themselves in the face of disagreement? Ask lots of questions, of course being sensitive to the player's privacy, trying to understand what motivates the issue. If it's a lack of confidence, for instance, is the core issue a poor self-image, or is it a feeling of not being able to affect things? Once you have a sense of the root cause of the issue, it's time to write some moments in where the player can develop the right behaviors.
Let's stick with the confidence issue, assuming that it is based in poor self-image. We want to create moments where the player can act differently than they have, but without forcing them to make the right choice. Remember that agency is vital here, and only by making the choice to change behavior will the player get the lesson. So we create some story moments to challenge the player. To begin with, we want to build the player up a bit: let's have an NPC meet the players and warmly compliment the player with confidence issues. Now they have to confront the feeling of being praised even when they disagree with the praise. Then we up the difficulty a bit: let's have a traveling vendor give the player a hard time, both jokingly praising and jokingly taunting the player in a public way. This gives the player the opportunity to address their confidence issue in a true-to-life way. Finally, once the player has made some progress (let's say you repeat similar trials for the player until the surpass the challenge), we really challenge them. This time, we'll have a loudmouthed jerk target the party, mocking each of them in turn. They give special attention to the player with confidence issues' character. Now the player must face their insecurities in order to progress past the challenge. This kind of gradually built-up challenge allows the player to use their character as a relatively safe space to investigate these feelings in a practical way. But only when the player character exhibits a genuine and substantial improvement to their reaction should you move on. These three steps would be expressed in game as about 10 roleplaying moments: about 3 trials before improvement is shown for each step.
This kind of outline is simple, and your actual plan for your players should be longer, more gradual, and customized to their rate of progress. It's important to remember that reforming mental connections and creating new habits is literally the hardest thing for the human brain to do, so be patient with your players. Check in with them often: are you feeling comfortable? How should the next challenge go? Should I ease up a little bit? Remember that TRPGs are meant to be fun, and if your attempt to help your players erases the fun element of it, you've stepped afoul of the process.
You should always run your plan for trials past your players and establish a safe tone. People are sensitive to the things that create difficulty for them, and you should take care to do only as much as the player wants to. Once you've reviewed, stick by your plans--no ad-libbing--allow the player to respond in whatever way they find appropriate. Talk again with the after playing to fully understand what the player is feeling and where they want to go. This model requires you as GM to more than ever to have your players direct these stories, so be ready to hand over control in ways you may not have before.
I hope this much goes without saying, but just to be clear: never, ever attempt to provide therapeutic TRPG time to players without discussing it first. That would be a colossal breach of trust, it would not work, and it would harm your players. You don't want to do it, I assure you. Instead, take your time explaining the idea to your players and see whether anyone is interested, and only then can you slowly proceed. If you have any doubts about your ability to be an unconditionally compassionate and patient helper to your players, forego this idea altogether.
But if the stars align, and your player(s) is/are ready to add emotional growth to their game experience, you have the potential to create a memorable, meaningful story which will be with your players for a lifetime. Zig remains an integral part of my growth in my mid-20s, and I will never forget what it was like to let go of so much weight just by playing a game with intention. Just remember that playing god in a TRPG is one thing, and playing god with a player's emotions is another. Be careful, be compassionate, and be creative; these are the steps to creating a positive therapeutic experience through a TRPG.
That's all for now. Coming soon: how to write original riddles for your game, a list of custom magic items, and how to balance your gameworld's economy. Until next time, happy gaming!
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