Leveraging Character Development as a Therapeutic Tool in Dungeons and Dragons

Abstract

Two PDF files are provided. Full screen slides for best viewing, and a version with presenter's notes provided with the slides where relevant.Literature review indicates that Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), a tabletop role playing game (TTRPG) that provides players the opportunity to navigate a fictional world while role playing as a character that they design with skills, traits, values, personality, and flaws based on an established rule framework, could be impactful as a therapeutic tool. Leveraging concepts from narrative therapy, play therapy, role-play therapy, and psychodrama, D&D is used in therapeutic environments to support clients in reaching their treatment goals. In this therapeutic method clients create a character, with the support of their therapist or group leader, that is specifically designed to support them in achieving their treatment goals. This presentation will review the character development process from a D&D research project conducted in spring of 2025 with adult clients with severe mental illness (SMI) that evaluated the impact of engagement in a therapeutic D&D group on client wellbeing through the use of a grounded theory approach. Kilmer et al. (2023) describe four archetypes based on Jungian personality types that can be used to categorize the characters clients create for themselves – Looking Glass, Shadow, Amplified Self, and Aspirational. In this research client treatment plans, clinical assessments, and character materials are used to match each player character with one of the four archetypes. This information is then used as a lens through which to view engagement in group sessions