Opportunities for Growth in Role Play

Utilizing role-playing games in a therapeutic setting requires having the client’s goals in mind when the therapist creates and facilitates story driven situations for the clients to encounter. These situations are designed to have a client react and improvise in ways that provide space for targeted growth. At the end of therapeutic role playing sessions, clients are encouraged to reflect on their encounter and explore how their experiences can impact their day to day life. Below is an example of a storied situation that was created for a group of players. This situation allowed for the exploration of unintended consequences, accepting responsibility, and interpersonal conflict.

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As a player, imagine you are one of a group of adventurers in a fantasy world setting. You have been getting some information which gives you a lead on someone who your party has been trying to track down. Following the information your group finds themselves at a hunting lodge in a nearby forest. When you arrive, you are surprised to find the hunting lodge in preparation for a big competition where the hunting party that brings back the biggest kill will be awarded with a hefty cash prize.

The lodge’s proprietor, the source with the information your group needs, is busy preparing for the hunting festival and can’t talk with the players. Your group decides to participate in the festival to pass the time and to get an “in” with the proprietor. You play the social situations that arise from a big celebration; dancing, great food and tales of past hunts.

Early in the morning the hunt begins, your group rushes head first into the foggy morning woods, racing to beat the other hunting teams to the best and biggest game. Eventually, you happen upon a large cave with a foul smell coming out from it. Laying on the ground sleeping in front of the cave mouth is an intimidatingly large bear that at full height towers 16 feet tall.

After a quickly whispered conversation the bear is decided to be a threat. Your group decides to get the drop on it by attacking it while it is still sleeping, so you all ambush and kill the large bear. You take a trophy from the bear and go on as inside the cave. There you find a dead mother bear covered in arrows with a mourning bear cub, that is able to speak!

At that moment your group has to decide what to do with this newly orphaned cub, since you had just killed the father bear without understanding the situation. The discussion that follows is about your collective responsibility to the small intelligent bear cub. One member wants to possibly kill the cub and just be done with the dilemma, the others want to find someone to care for it.

You and your group are forced to navigate through this tense situation only to find out from a local hermit that the bear protected those living in the woods, complicating the party's decision even more!

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At the end, the players would have the opportunity to debrief the emotions and experiences surrounding this encounter with the bear. The therapist could guide the clients to explore how making quick decisions can lead to unintended consequences or they could process the weight of responsibility for their choices. They could also consider how they were able to navigate the social conflict between their characters. Depending on the client’s goals the therapist can decide how best to use this opportunity to promote growth by challenging the clients to see how their roles can inform their own decisions in the here-and-now.

This is an example of how a role-playing game situation can be created in order to challenge clients to encounter opportunities for growth!