game therapy


Hi Reader,

Welcome! Please, come in. Have some fizzy water. It's so hot outside. A neighbor gave me a bouquet of zinnias—they're in a jam jar on the table.

Do you ever check out—dissociate—when you should be concentrating? Time you urgently need tickscdcr5t by and by. And then you realize you're doing it, and you feel like you're falling into quicksand?

No? Just me?

Then have you ever felt the opposite? You suddenly find yourself dialed in, not just mentally but emotionally? And something unlooked-for unlocks in you?

Role-playing games do that for me sometimes. Do they ever do that for you?

Tangentially related: One of my absolute heroes in tabletop RPGs is Alex Roberts.

In May, Dicebreaker interviewed Roberts. Turns out she’s a trained therapist. She talked about how games can be profound, therapeutic experiences, sometimes especially because they’re not officially “therapy.”

I love those meaningful gaming experiences. Ones that couldn’t've come out any other way.

But—as Roberts says in the interview—they don’t have to be therapy. Maybe you didn’t sit down at the table tonight to process you trauma via an elf persona, or to help your friend process theirs. Trusting your fellow players is key.

Roberts' most recent game that allows for those experiences is a new edition of her groundbreaking game For the Queen. Darrington Press gave it new, full-color portraits of queens, in a box with a magnetic closure. Luxe. Roberts also redesigned some questions to draw you in more. You can tell everyone worked hard to make an already great game worth a re-do.

Not related at all: I have box sets of Raccoon Sky Pirates to sell again! Q Workshop shipped the dice to me way ahead of schedule. So now we're in the final gallop to the end of this game's run. After that, I'll let it go, so I can work on the new design. Make it worth a re-do.

Cheers,
Chris

P.S. A cool game resource is crowdfunding right now: How to GM Romance. It looks like it has a lot of good tools and ideas. Things about consent, for instance. Since Defy the Gods offers a lot of romance, I'm backing it.

P.P.S. Raccoon Sky Pirates box sets are available! I'm restocking Indie Press Revolution, Amazon, and my own site. Get one while you still can!

Everlasting, Neverending Game Night

🌈🚀 Reliable wonder engine. I make narrative role-playing games that imagine a weirder, queerer, more connected world.

Read more from Everlasting, Neverending Game Night
gray 3D print of an open dumpster with massive flames streaming out of it

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Isn't it beautiful out? Let's sit on the back porch today with some fizzy water and lol at all the dandelions. They get so tall when they’re ready to let go. I got some great games recently in the mail: Zhenya's Wonder Tales by Jason Morningstar and Last Train to Bremen by Caro Asercion. Slavic folk tales, cozy tragedy, liar's dice and a deal with the Devil! This is my favorite part of crowdfunding campaigns—when a little box of magic arrives at your door....

The gold foil-covered special edition of Defy the Gods, with two adventurers embracing

Hi Reader, Welcome! The daffodils are blooming in the front yard. They look good in this metal pitcher, don't you think? Defy the Gods is at the distributor's warehouse, at Plus One Exp in Philadelphia. I had a great talk with Tony last week, sorting out how distribution is going to work. They're a well organized team—they got this. Plus One Exp also brought a couple display copies of Defy the Gods to PAX East last weekend. Maybe I didn't print enough of the special edition! Tony said people...

Mockup cover of Defy the Raccoons, with a mashup of art from Defy the Gods and Raccoon Sky Pirates

Hi Reader, Welcome! Please, come in. Do you like the pantsuit? I got it at Ross. powered by Midjourney I'm glad you're here—you're just in time for a big announcement. Roll that podium over here, would you dear? In an effort to capitalize on market synergies, Hectic Electron is excited to announce two new games in our line-up: Defy the Raccoons and Queer Sky Pirates. The first one out the gate is Defy the Raccoons. In this game, inspired by Over the Hedge and the sensational,...