I believe that role playing games have tremendous potential for helping us to develop deeper empathy, connect with parts of ourselves we often ignore, and imagine new ways of being in the world. Play can teach us things about our “real” selves that we might otherwise miss, and experiences of play can be steered in a transformative direction if approached with intention and attention. Approaching "heavy" topics can also feel less threatening when viewed through a playful lens; it can give us permission to be vulnerable in a safer container than our everyday life might provide. I also firmly believe that, through play, we can imagine better worlds into being. Yes, building a better world takes hands-on, hard work, but imagination and play can guide that work in exciting new directions. And, as Terry Pratchett's iconic, anthropomorphic personification of Death says in the book Hogfather, "YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" Toward that end, I am developing contemplative journaling games that can be played on your own time, as tools to help you reconnect with yourself and your world. Any games that I develop can be found and downloaded (for free) below or by going to my itch.io page.
Lovely, free journaling techniques for anyone who could use a gamifying angle to dig in the dirt of their interior landscape www.restlesscourage.com/ttrpgs/
