So at Denver Comicon last year I heard a few different accounts of people who used D&D as a way to combat and overcome anxiety symptoms. One lady mentioned being unwilling to leave her house and then meeting her husband through a D&D group. I really like this idea and while I know a lot of people find solace in D&D I think there are others who find it complicated and difficult to approach. As such I would like to create a simpler role playing game that utilizes role play to treat anxiety and other mood disorders.
I would love to hear some examples if you or anyone you know suffer from anxiety, depression, or anything really, and have found D&D or role playing to help. If so what specifically helped and why? Also if you'd like to share but don't want it in a public forum I'd love to hear from anyone individually if you send me a private message.
I suffer with depression. It's like voices in my brain being mean to me, repeating what I've been told, stuck in my mind echoing over and over. "You're ugly", "you're an idiot", "you're worthless", "nothing you do matters", "you're nothing, you'll always be nothing", "you shouldn't have been born", "everyone would be better off if you killed yourself", "freak", "faggot", "you're just a burden", "you can't do anything right". Sometimes they're little whispers. Sometimes they're screaming. They're voices I grew up with: kids in school, strangers, teachers, sibling, parent, more. So, I try my best to ignore these things my brain says.
D&D helps me by being somebody other than me. I have to think for somebody else, AS somebody else, and makes my brain stop hating me for a while. It's a very weird thing to describe but focusing on a character in a situation given by something else just makes it easier to forget about myself, because in certain ways I'm kinda not myself and it's a relief. Plus, it's fun and I'm helping to contribute to somebody else's fun, which helps tell my insecurities to **** off, for a while.
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Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Personally, I am an introvert who has to play an extrovert at work and everywhere else. So while I wouldn't call it anxiety per se, I would call it a way of bridging the gap between the two worlds, using Role Play as means for doing it.
It helps me fake it better at work.
I have run into the reverse problem recently; one DM I met, absolutely refuses to do D&D over Discord or any other comm service, saying that the medium creates MORE anxiety. I am curious if others have that issue as well.
For sure my game group and I have all found D&D to be a good way to unplug for a little while from the stresses of the real world. It's better for me in a sense, because as a DM, I have to do a lot of thinking, planning, world building, etc., in between sessions, whereas they don't have to think all that much about the campaign in between sessions (except every so often when picking things like a feat or a spell upon leveling). There is a sense of, I think freedom might be the right word, when the world around me is getting to me, that I can say, "eff this, I'm going to work on building the next dungeon" and immerse my head inside of the DMG or the MM or a DungeonDraft or Dungeon Painter Studio map or something. My brain only has room to think hard about just so many things (usually, only one!), and when I get absorbed in the map or making up a monster or whatever, I lose track of not just time but whatever was stressing me out at the time.
I guess my point would be, you say you want to create a simpler game because you think it might help more with anxiety, but in my experience the complexity of D&D is what helps me and my game group lose ourselves in the game. It's so complicated you can't think about whatever else is stressing you out right now or causing anxiety. If it's too simple, the brain will be able to do both at once and it may not help as much. At least, that would certainly be the case for me.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I suffer with depression. It's like voices in my brain being mean to me, repeating what I've been told, stuck in my mind echoing over and over. "You're ugly", "you're an idiot", "you're worthless", "nothing you do matters", "you're nothing, you'll always be nothing", "you shouldn't have been born", "everyone would be better off if you killed yourself", "freak", "faggot", "you're just a burden", "you can't do anything right". Sometimes they're little whispers. Sometimes they're screaming. They're voices I grew up with: kids in school, strangers, teachers, sibling, parent, more. So, I try my best to ignore these things my brain says.
I guess my point would be, you say you want to create a simpler game because you think it might help more with anxiety, but in my experience the complexity of D&D is what helps me and my game group lose ourselves in the game. It's so complicated you can't think about whatever else is stressing you out right now or causing anxiety. If it's too simple, the brain will be able to do both at once and it may not help as much. At least, that would certainly be the case for me.
Sometimes even D&D isn’t complicated enough all by itself. The mental maths helps shut out the internal monologue.
My anxiety has always centered around judgement. I would judge my own behavior harshly and assume others felt the same way about me.
Roleplay was like holding out a dummy in front of me. It lowered the stakes of being judged because the guy front and center was not really me. Then from behind that shield I started seeing people's reactions and behaviors towards my character more clearly, and it gradually undermined my skewed perceptions of how people judge others (or rather the lack of judgement in a lot of cases).
I don't have anxiety, but I do have depression. D&D was my best way of coping. Too bad that the pandemic basically shut that down for me.
It's hard. Really hard. I can't do D&D how I used to, and how I prefer, and it was my main way of coping. The world is in so much chaos. I've been depressed for awhile, but ignoring it. It's my senior year of high school, and I'm graduating. I don't really care at all about the ceremonies and all that crap, but my future was essentially put on pause by this pandemic. It just ruined everything. I hate having to do this, but I understand that we have to do this to save lives. I would gladly sacrifice my happiness to have other lives be saved. It's crappy, though.
My parents got divorced 6 months ago. I'm 18, but it still turned my world upside down. Then, the world not only shut down, but everything started turning to crap. 2020 is a terrible year. It was supposed to be good, but very quickly turned out to be the worst year in my life so far. I was about to start going to therapy, but the same week that I decided to do so, and take action to get help, the whole world went on pause.
It's not helpful that I have autism, which makes my emotions detached and tangled. I don't understand anything about who I am and will be anymore. It's just awful. I'm not suicidal, I could never commit suicide, but it just sucks. There's not much good going on in the world anymore, it seems. George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Murder Hornets, Twitter Wars, Politicizing a Disease, it just seems like everything wants to suck this year.
(Sorry about the rant. I posted something similar to this before, but no one seemed to post afterwards.)
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I don't have anxiety, but I do have depression. D&D was my best way of coping. Too bad that the pandemic basically shut that down for me.
It's hard. Really hard. I can't do D&D how I used to, and how I prefer, and it was my main way of coping. The world is in so much chaos. I've been depressed for awhile, but ignoring it. It's my senior year of high school, and I'm graduating. I don't really care at all about the ceremonies and all that crap, but my future was essentially put on pause by this pandemic. It just ruined everything. I hate having to do this, but I understand that we have to do this to save lives. I would gladly sacrifice my happiness to have other lives be saved. It's crappy, though.
My parents got divorced 6 months ago. I'm 18, but it still turned my world upside down. Then, the world not only shut down, but everything started turning to crap. 2020 is a terrible year. It was supposed to be good, but very quickly turned out to be the worst year in my life so far. I was about to start going to therapy, but the same week that I decided to do so, and take action to get help, the whole world went on pause.
It's not helpful that I have autism, which makes my emotions detached and tangled. I don't understand anything about who I am and will be anymore. It's just awful. I'm not suicidal, I could never commit suicide, but it just sucks. There's not much good going on in the world anymore, it seems. George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Murder Hornets, Twitter Wars, Politicizing a Disease, it just seems like everything wants to suck this year.
(Sorry about the rant. I posted something similar to this before, but no one seemed to post afterwards.)
I understand what your saying.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
I don't like the silence playing via discord or what have you. You must have music or it's really awkward. It is also very hard to judge how everyone is getting along on-line. I am an anxious person so I always worrying about how other people are doing.
So at Denver Comicon last year I heard a few different accounts of people who used D&D as a way to combat and overcome anxiety symptoms. One lady mentioned being unwilling to leave her house and then meeting her husband through a D&D group. I really like this idea and while I know a lot of people find solace in D&D I think there are others who find it complicated and difficult to approach. As such I would like to create a simpler role playing game that utilizes role play to treat anxiety and other mood disorders.
I would love to hear some examples if you or anyone you know suffer from anxiety, depression, or anything really, and have found D&D or role playing to help. If so what specifically helped and why? Also if you'd like to share but don't want it in a public forum I'd love to hear from anyone individually if you send me a private message.
There are so many role playing games out there, not sure you need to create another one. If you want simplicity just go back in time to earlier editions. Personally at the time I felt 2nd edition was perfect, back then when we played it.
So at Denver Comicon last year I heard a few different accounts of people who used D&D as a way to combat and overcome anxiety symptoms. One lady mentioned being unwilling to leave her house and then meeting her husband through a D&D group. I really like this idea and while I know a lot of people find solace in D&D I think there are others who find it complicated and difficult to approach. As such I would like to create a simpler role playing game that utilizes role play to treat anxiety and other mood disorders.
I would love to hear some examples if you or anyone you know suffer from anxiety, depression, or anything really, and have found D&D or role playing to help. If so what specifically helped and why? Also if you'd like to share but don't want it in a public forum I'd love to hear from anyone individually if you send me a private message.
There are so many role playing games out there, not sure you need to create another one. If you want simplicity just go back in time to earlier editions. Personally at the time I felt 2nd edition was perfect, back then when we played it.
The original core market was people with poor social skills (despite, apparently, the original designers having really great social skills - until the suits took over and stopped the orgies). Honestly, D&D can (with the right group) be a great way to improve your social skills.
I have learned quite a bit from it. Helped me over some of my issues. Still a bit arrogant (not that hard to detect if you read my posts - I come off as a know it all), but I am better than I used to be.
The original core market was people with poor social skills (despite, apparently, the original designers having really great social skills - until the suits took over and stopped the orgies). Honestly, D&D can (with the right group) be a great way to improve your social skills.
I have learned quite a bit from it. Helped me over some of my issues. Still a bit arrogant (not that hard to detect if you read my posts - I come off as a know it all), but I am better than I used to be.
True 100%. I have ASD, and D&D helped me. My cousin also isn't great with social skills, and it helped him, too.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
I suffer with depression. It's like voices in my brain being mean to me, repeating what I've been told, stuck in my mind echoing over and over. "You're ugly", "you're an idiot", "you're worthless", "nothing you do matters", "you're nothing, you'll always be nothing", "you shouldn't have been born", "everyone would be better off if you killed yourself", "freak", "faggot", "you're just a burden", "you can't do anything right". Sometimes they're little whispers. Sometimes they're screaming. They're voices I grew up with: kids in school, strangers, teachers, sibling, parent, more. So, I try my best to ignore these things my brain says.
D&D helps me by being somebody other than me. I have to think for somebody else, AS somebody else, and makes my brain stop hating me for a while. It's a very weird thing to describe but focusing on a character in a situation given by something else just makes it easier to forget about myself, because in certain ways I'm kinda not myself and it's a relief. Plus, it's fun and I'm helping to contribute to somebody else's fun, which helps tell my insecurities to **** off, for a while.
Hi, thanks for posting this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I've played D&D for decades but I think that's the first time I've heard a player say the phrase I'm helping contribute to somebody else's fun, which I really like. It seems that for you then it's kind of the shared creative experience and the role play getting to be someone else that are the big things that help. I too have to deal with very critical inner voices and it's never a pleasant thing so it's nice to feel not alone and I'm glad you've been able to use D&D positively. Thanks again for the info.
Personally, I am an introvert who has to play an extrovert at work and everywhere else. So while I wouldn't call it anxiety per se, I would call it a way of bridging the gap between the two worlds, using Role Play as means for doing it.
It helps me fake it better at work.
I have run into the reverse problem recently; one DM I met, absolutely refuses to do D&D over Discord or any other comm service, saying that the medium creates MORE anxiety. I am curious if others have that issue as well.
I'd also be curious about that. The majority of my D&D experience has been done online and while it creates some personal stress for me as a DM because of the technical hoops I can't say it has ever led to anxiety.
For sure my game group and I have all found D&D to be a good way to unplug for a little while from the stresses of the real world. It's better for me in a sense, because as a DM, I have to do a lot of thinking, planning, world building, etc., in between sessions, whereas they don't have to think all that much about the campaign in between sessions (except every so often when picking things like a feat or a spell upon leveling). There is a sense of, I think freedom might be the right word, when the world around me is getting to me, that I can say, "eff this, I'm going to work on building the next dungeon" and immerse my head inside of the DMG or the MM or a DungeonDraft or Dungeon Painter Studio map or something. My brain only has room to think hard about just so many things (usually, only one!), and when I get absorbed in the map or making up a monster or whatever, I lose track of not just time but whatever was stressing me out at the time.
I guess my point would be, you say you want to create a simpler game because you think it might help more with anxiety, but in my experience the complexity of D&D is what helps me and my game group lose ourselves in the game. It's so complicated you can't think about whatever else is stressing you out right now or causing anxiety. If it's too simple, the brain will be able to do both at once and it may not help as much. At least, that would certainly be the case for me.
The main reason I wanted to simplify the game is because there are already very good games D&D, pathfinder, VTM, etc. that are very complicated and doing this work effectively for their audience. I'm not trying to compete with the role playing game market, my hope was to make something that gave benefits to people in school or group counseling settings and that could be explained in minutes as opposed to hours. I do really appreciate your feedback though about the complexity and it has me wondering if I need to rethink my approach. This is mainly an information gathering stage so that I can figure out what elements are important to put into a game like this so the simplicity isn't set in stone it was just a goal. Thanks for the very useful feedback.
My anxiety has always centered around judgement. I would judge my own behavior harshly and assume others felt the same way about me.
Roleplay was like holding out a dummy in front of me. It lowered the stakes of being judged because the guy front and center was not really me. Then from behind that shield I started seeing people's reactions and behaviors towards my character more clearly, and it gradually undermined my skewed perceptions of how people judge others (or rather the lack of judgement in a lot of cases).
This is a really interesting post and way to describe it. Sometimes I feel like a really judgmental person and am especially harsh on myself. I had hoped that role play could be use to help people gain social skills and better navigate social interactions and what you are describing fits that idea perfectly. Thanks for the response.
I don't have anxiety, but I do have depression. D&D was my best way of coping. Too bad that the pandemic basically shut that down for me.
It's hard. Really hard. I can't do D&D how I used to, and how I prefer, and it was my main way of coping. The world is in so much chaos. I've been depressed for awhile, but ignoring it. It's my senior year of high school, and I'm graduating. I don't really care at all about the ceremonies and all that crap, but my future was essentially put on pause by this pandemic. It just ruined everything. I hate having to do this, but I understand that we have to do this to save lives. I would gladly sacrifice my happiness to have other lives be saved. It's crappy, though.
My parents got divorced 6 months ago. I'm 18, but it still turned my world upside down. Then, the world not only shut down, but everything started turning to crap. 2020 is a terrible year. It was supposed to be good, but very quickly turned out to be the worst year in my life so far. I was about to start going to therapy, but the same week that I decided to do so, and take action to get help, the whole world went on pause.
It's not helpful that I have autism, which makes my emotions detached and tangled. I don't understand anything about who I am and will be anymore. It's just awful. I'm not suicidal, I could never commit suicide, but it just sucks. There's not much good going on in the world anymore, it seems. George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Murder Hornets, Twitter Wars, Politicizing a Disease, it just seems like everything wants to suck this year.
(Sorry about the rant. I posted something similar to this before, but no one seemed to post afterwards.)
Hey Levi, sometimes we need to rant and I'm sorry you are having a rough year. My parents also got divorced (although I was much much younger than you) and graduating around a major crisis sounds really difficult. If you still want to see a therapist I highly encourage you to make some calls and find out if they are accepting new patients (many will say yes). I've been seeing my Therapist digitally using a web based streaming service since March and while it feels different than in person it can still be really helpful.
We are all coping with 2020 in different ways and I'm sorry to hear your D&D group isn't running. Have you thought about trying to get them to transition online? It is different than in person but can still be pretty fun, my Roll20 group is about 19 months in to only online play and I'm very much enjoying DMing it.
Everyone is suffering right now, and while the world kind of sucks this is temporary and we will all come out of this stronger I think. Thanks for posting and I hope you stay well, if you are ever not sure about that reach out, people do care, I care, and want you to be happy and safe.
The original core market was people with poor social skills (despite, apparently, the original designers having really great social skills - until the suits took over and stopped the orgies). Honestly, D&D can (with the right group) be a great way to improve your social skills.
I have learned quite a bit from it. Helped me over some of my issues. Still a bit arrogant (not that hard to detect if you read my posts - I come off as a know it all), but I am better than I used to be.
I agree and that is one of the main benefits I think a role playing game can impart. I like the idea of people playing characters that show attributes the players don't believe they have themselves. Originally this idea came up when I realized that I was good at being charming and assertive when I was playing my 19 charisma rogue, but was very bad at that in real life. I realized though that as the person playing the rogue I was the one who was actually being charming and witty and fun. This helped me immensely and is definitely one of the main aspects I want to bring to a game. Thanks for the post (and apparently I need to look into early D&D orgies as that's new info to me.)
There are so many role playing games out there, not sure you need to create another one. If you want simplicity just go back in time to earlier editions. Personally at the time I felt 2nd edition was perfect, back then when we played it.
Oh god no! 5e is way easier to play than 2e was.
i guess its THACO vs multi actions per round.
Of course you can go further back to Basic Dungeons & Dragons. If I could play it at 11 years old, anyone can.
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So at Denver Comicon last year I heard a few different accounts of people who used D&D as a way to combat and overcome anxiety symptoms. One lady mentioned being unwilling to leave her house and then meeting her husband through a D&D group. I really like this idea and while I know a lot of people find solace in D&D I think there are others who find it complicated and difficult to approach. As such I would like to create a simpler role playing game that utilizes role play to treat anxiety and other mood disorders.
I would love to hear some examples if you or anyone you know suffer from anxiety, depression, or anything really, and have found D&D or role playing to help. If so what specifically helped and why? Also if you'd like to share but don't want it in a public forum I'd love to hear from anyone individually if you send me a private message.
I suffer with depression. It's like voices in my brain being mean to me, repeating what I've been told, stuck in my mind echoing over and over. "You're ugly", "you're an idiot", "you're worthless", "nothing you do matters", "you're nothing, you'll always be nothing", "you shouldn't have been born", "everyone would be better off if you killed yourself", "freak", "faggot", "you're just a burden", "you can't do anything right". Sometimes they're little whispers. Sometimes they're screaming. They're voices I grew up with: kids in school, strangers, teachers, sibling, parent, more. So, I try my best to ignore these things my brain says.
D&D helps me by being somebody other than me. I have to think for somebody else, AS somebody else, and makes my brain stop hating me for a while. It's a very weird thing to describe but focusing on a character in a situation given by something else just makes it easier to forget about myself, because in certain ways I'm kinda not myself and it's a relief. Plus, it's fun and I'm helping to contribute to somebody else's fun, which helps tell my insecurities to **** off, for a while.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Personally, I am an introvert who has to play an extrovert at work and everywhere else. So while I wouldn't call it anxiety per se, I would call it a way of bridging the gap between the two worlds, using Role Play as means for doing it.
It helps me fake it better at work.
I have run into the reverse problem recently; one DM I met, absolutely refuses to do D&D over Discord or any other comm service, saying that the medium creates MORE anxiety. I am curious if others have that issue as well.
For sure my game group and I have all found D&D to be a good way to unplug for a little while from the stresses of the real world. It's better for me in a sense, because as a DM, I have to do a lot of thinking, planning, world building, etc., in between sessions, whereas they don't have to think all that much about the campaign in between sessions (except every so often when picking things like a feat or a spell upon leveling). There is a sense of, I think freedom might be the right word, when the world around me is getting to me, that I can say, "eff this, I'm going to work on building the next dungeon" and immerse my head inside of the DMG or the MM or a DungeonDraft or Dungeon Painter Studio map or something. My brain only has room to think hard about just so many things (usually, only one!), and when I get absorbed in the map or making up a monster or whatever, I lose track of not just time but whatever was stressing me out at the time.
I guess my point would be, you say you want to create a simpler game because you think it might help more with anxiety, but in my experience the complexity of D&D is what helps me and my game group lose ourselves in the game. It's so complicated you can't think about whatever else is stressing you out right now or causing anxiety. If it's too simple, the brain will be able to do both at once and it may not help as much. At least, that would certainly be the case for me.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Sometimes even D&D isn’t complicated enough all by itself. The mental maths helps shut out the internal monologue.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
My anxiety has always centered around judgement. I would judge my own behavior harshly and assume others felt the same way about me.
Roleplay was like holding out a dummy in front of me. It lowered the stakes of being judged because the guy front and center was not really me. Then from behind that shield I started seeing people's reactions and behaviors towards my character more clearly, and it gradually undermined my skewed perceptions of how people judge others (or rather the lack of judgement in a lot of cases).
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I don't have anxiety, but I do have depression. D&D was my best way of coping. Too bad that the pandemic basically shut that down for me.
It's hard. Really hard. I can't do D&D how I used to, and how I prefer, and it was my main way of coping. The world is in so much chaos. I've been depressed for awhile, but ignoring it. It's my senior year of high school, and I'm graduating. I don't really care at all about the ceremonies and all that crap, but my future was essentially put on pause by this pandemic. It just ruined everything. I hate having to do this, but I understand that we have to do this to save lives. I would gladly sacrifice my happiness to have other lives be saved. It's crappy, though.
My parents got divorced 6 months ago. I'm 18, but it still turned my world upside down. Then, the world not only shut down, but everything started turning to crap. 2020 is a terrible year. It was supposed to be good, but very quickly turned out to be the worst year in my life so far. I was about to start going to therapy, but the same week that I decided to do so, and take action to get help, the whole world went on pause.
It's not helpful that I have autism, which makes my emotions detached and tangled. I don't understand anything about who I am and will be anymore. It's just awful. I'm not suicidal, I could never commit suicide, but it just sucks. There's not much good going on in the world anymore, it seems. George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Murder Hornets, Twitter Wars, Politicizing a Disease, it just seems like everything wants to suck this year.
(Sorry about the rant. I posted something similar to this before, but no one seemed to post afterwards.)
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I understand what your saying.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
I don't like the silence playing via discord or what have you. You must have music or it's really awkward. It is also very hard to judge how everyone is getting along on-line. I am an anxious person so I always worrying about how other people are doing.
There are so many role playing games out there, not sure you need to create another one. If you want simplicity just go back in time to earlier editions. Personally at the time I felt 2nd edition was perfect, back then when we played it.
Oh god no! 5e is way easier to play than 2e was.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
The original core market was people with poor social skills (despite, apparently, the original designers having really great social skills - until the suits took over and stopped the orgies). Honestly, D&D can (with the right group) be a great way to improve your social skills.
I have learned quite a bit from it. Helped me over some of my issues. Still a bit arrogant (not that hard to detect if you read my posts - I come off as a know it all), but I am better than I used to be.
True 100%. I have ASD, and D&D helped me. My cousin also isn't great with social skills, and it helped him, too.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Quote from Cyb3rM1nd >>
I suffer with depression. It's like voices in my brain being mean to me, repeating what I've been told, stuck in my mind echoing over and over. "You're ugly", "you're an idiot", "you're worthless", "nothing you do matters", "you're nothing, you'll always be nothing", "you shouldn't have been born", "everyone would be better off if you killed yourself", "freak", "faggot", "you're just a burden", "you can't do anything right". Sometimes they're little whispers. Sometimes they're screaming. They're voices I grew up with: kids in school, strangers, teachers, sibling, parent, more. So, I try my best to ignore these things my brain says.
D&D helps me by being somebody other than me. I have to think for somebody else, AS somebody else, and makes my brain stop hating me for a while. It's a very weird thing to describe but focusing on a character in a situation given by something else just makes it easier to forget about myself, because in certain ways I'm kinda not myself and it's a relief. Plus, it's fun and I'm helping to contribute to somebody else's fun, which helps tell my insecurities to **** off, for a while.
Hi, thanks for posting this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I've played D&D for decades but I think that's the first time I've heard a player say the phrase I'm helping contribute to somebody else's fun, which I really like. It seems that for you then it's kind of the shared creative experience and the role play getting to be someone else that are the big things that help. I too have to deal with very critical inner voices and it's never a pleasant thing so it's nice to feel not alone and I'm glad you've been able to use D&D positively. Thanks again for the info.
I'd also be curious about that. The majority of my D&D experience has been done online and while it creates some personal stress for me as a DM because of the technical hoops I can't say it has ever led to anxiety.
The main reason I wanted to simplify the game is because there are already very good games D&D, pathfinder, VTM, etc. that are very complicated and doing this work effectively for their audience. I'm not trying to compete with the role playing game market, my hope was to make something that gave benefits to people in school or group counseling settings and that could be explained in minutes as opposed to hours. I do really appreciate your feedback though about the complexity and it has me wondering if I need to rethink my approach. This is mainly an information gathering stage so that I can figure out what elements are important to put into a game like this so the simplicity isn't set in stone it was just a goal. Thanks for the very useful feedback.
This is a really interesting post and way to describe it. Sometimes I feel like a really judgmental person and am especially harsh on myself. I had hoped that role play could be use to help people gain social skills and better navigate social interactions and what you are describing fits that idea perfectly. Thanks for the response.
Hey Levi, sometimes we need to rant and I'm sorry you are having a rough year. My parents also got divorced (although I was much much younger than you) and graduating around a major crisis sounds really difficult. If you still want to see a therapist I highly encourage you to make some calls and find out if they are accepting new patients (many will say yes). I've been seeing my Therapist digitally using a web based streaming service since March and while it feels different than in person it can still be really helpful.
We are all coping with 2020 in different ways and I'm sorry to hear your D&D group isn't running. Have you thought about trying to get them to transition online? It is different than in person but can still be pretty fun, my Roll20 group is about 19 months in to only online play and I'm very much enjoying DMing it.
Everyone is suffering right now, and while the world kind of sucks this is temporary and we will all come out of this stronger I think. Thanks for posting and I hope you stay well, if you are ever not sure about that reach out, people do care, I care, and want you to be happy and safe.
I agree and that is one of the main benefits I think a role playing game can impart. I like the idea of people playing characters that show attributes the players don't believe they have themselves. Originally this idea came up when I realized that I was good at being charming and assertive when I was playing my 19 charisma rogue, but was very bad at that in real life. I realized though that as the person playing the rogue I was the one who was actually being charming and witty and fun. This helped me immensely and is definitely one of the main aspects I want to bring to a game. Thanks for the post (and apparently I need to look into early D&D orgies as that's new info to me.)
i guess its THACO vs multi actions per round.
Of course you can go further back to Basic Dungeons & Dragons. If I could play it at 11 years old, anyone can.